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THE MARTYR CHURCH: 



A NARRATIVE OF THE 



INTRODUCTION, PROGRESS, AND TRIUMPH 



CHRISTIANITY IN MADAGASCAR 



WITH NOTICES OF 



PERSONAL INTERCOURSE AND TRAVEL IN THAT ISLAND. 



Rev. WILLIAM ELLIS, 

AUTHOS OF 

"Polynesian Researches," " Three Visits to Madagascar," fyc, Sec. 



THIRD THOUSAND. 

LONDON: 

JOHK SNOW AND CO., 

2, IVY LANE, PATEENOSTEE EOW. 

MDCCCLXX, 






rtJfSS 

eh r/#t Q>tf 



PEEFACE. 

The present volume is offered to the Christian 
public, more especially to the friends of missions, 
in the hope that it may gratify a desire, which it is 
believed is at the present time very generally felt ; 
for a more complete account than has been hitherto 
given of the Martyr Church of Madagascar, including 
the progress of Christianity in that country, from its 
introduction to its recent and marvellous extension 
among the people. 

My former volumes on Madagascar* contained 
such information as I had been able to gather re- 
specting the country, its productions and its inhabit- 
ants, as well as some account of the progress of the 
gospel. 

The present work is confined chiefly to an account 
of the growth of Christianity among the inhabitants 

* "Three Visits to Madagascar," and "Madagascar Revisited," 
published by Mr. Murray ; to whom the author and publishers feel 
grateful for his courtesy in allowing some of the illustrations 
prepared for the above works to be used in illustrating the present 
volume. 



iv PREFACE. 

of the capital and the central provinces, its reception 
by the sovereign, many of the government officers, 
civilians, and general population, as well as its 
extension to more distant races. The narrative is 
brought down to the present time. 

The succinct account given of the state of the 
people at the time when they were first visited by 
the English, will enable the reader to understand, 
more clearly than would otherwise be possible, the 
remarkable change which the influence of Chris- 
tianity has wrought amongst all classes. 

It is hoped that the evidence of the divine origin 
and undiminished efficacy of the gospel, as mani- 
fested in Madagascar, may be welcome to many 
as a confirmation of the faith and hope which we 
cherish respecting the ultimate and universal 
triumphs of the cross; at the same time it will 
encourage every faithful missionary of Christ 
throughout the world. Madagascar stands forth at 
the present time, before enemies and friends, a wit- 
ness for God, demonstrating to all that what the 
gospel of salvation by Jesus Christ accomplished in 
the days of the apostles it is accomplishing before 
all the world in the present day. 

W. ELLIS. 

IToddesdun, Dec, 1369. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

Brief notice of the country and people— Radama and his army at 
Tamatave — Abolition of the slave trade — Destructive character 
of Eadama's wars— Incipient civilization among the Hovas — 
Resources of the country — General condition of the people — 
Disastrous effects of slavery on bond and free — Sanguinary cha- 
racter of the Malagasy laws — Administration of justice — the 
tangena or poison ordeal — Mental faculties of the people — De- 
fective morals of the community — Malagasy tombs — Robbery of 
the dead — Licentiousness of the people — Idolatries of Madagas- 
car — Worship and sacrifices — The god of the tangena or poison — 
The sikidy or divination — Hardening influence of idolatry on the 
heart — Its mercenary character 1 



CHAPTER II. 

Arrival of the first missionaries on the coast of Madagascar — Fear- 
ful ravages of illness and death — Renewal of the mission at the 
capital under the auspices of Radama — The English language 
taught in the first schools — Radama's letter to the Missionary 
Society — Alarm of parents respecting their children — The native 
language reduced to writing — Arrival of missionary artisans— 
The native language taught in the schools — Commencement of 
public Christian worship on the Lord's day — Wide extension of 
education — Increasing attendance at the Sunday services — Sing- 
ing introduced into Christian worship — Arrival of the first print- 
ing press — Review of the first ten years of the mission — Death of 
Radama — Assassination of his successor and friends — Ranavalona 
placed on the throne — The character and reign of Radama 36 






VI CONTENTS. 

CHAPTEE III. 

PAGE 

Destruction of Radama's family— Drafting of scholars into the army 
— Appeal of the queen to the idols at her coronation — The New 
Testament and other books printed— Attention of the people to 
religious teaching — Baptism and partaking of the Lord's Supper 
by the first converts— Disapproval of Christian fellowship by the 
government — Formation of the first churches of Madagascar — 
Officers, soldiers, and scholars in the government schools, for- 
bidden to receive baptism or unite with the church — Christian 
officer accused of witchcraft, and subjected to drink the ordeal of 
poison — Masters forbidden to allow their slaves to read — Conver- 
sion and death of a young slave — Refusal of Christian soldiers to 
acknowledge the idols — 30,000 readers, the result of ten years' 
educational labour — Idols rejected — Description of a Malagasy 
idol — Evidences of the power of the gospel among the people — 
Efficiency of native agency — Disastrous end of a teacher of a 
new religion 59 

CHAPTER IV. 

Christian refusal to offer heathen sacrifice — False accusation of 
preaching sedition — A national assembly summoned- — Christian 
worship declared unlawful— Missionaries forbidden to teach Chris- 
tianity — Christians required to accuse themselves — Books to be 
given up — Stedfastness of the Christians — Their noble confession 
before the judges — Midnight meetings for prayer — Translation 
of the Scriptures — Compilation of dictionaries — Translation of 
" Pilgrim's Progress" — Last missionaries leave the country — Ac- 
cusation against Rafaravavy and her companions 87 

CHAPTER Y. 

Arrest of Rafaravavy — Confession of Paul before the judges — A 
Christian's feelings on the way to execution — Fearful conflagra- 
tion in the city — Postponement of Rafaravavy's execution — 
Arrest, examination, and execution of the second martyr — Torture 
of his wife — Flight of Rafaravavy and her companions — Perils 
and suffering — Honesty of Christian slaves — Flight of the Chris- 
tians to Tamatavo— Safe embarkation— Their song of praise to 
God — Welcomes in London and among the churches in Eng- 
land — Their return to Mauritius — Capture, torture, and execu- 
tion of the praying people in the capital— Friendship among the 
Christians— Condition of the fugitives in Madagascar 114 



CONTEXTS. 



CHAPTER YI. 

PAGE 

Attempt of the Christians to reach the coast — Their capture on the 
road — Eemarkahle escape of two prisoners — Execution of the 
rest — Influence of public executions on the people — Extreme 
affection of the Christian captives, and cheerful death of Chris- 
tians at Vonizongo — Savage execution of Raharo and his friends 
— Death of Rev. David Johns — The Prince Royal's friendship to 
the Christians — His efforts in their favour — Kindness of Prince 
Kamonja — Severe persecution in 1849 — Noble confession of the 
Christians — The faithful Ranivo — The burning of the nobles- — 
The hurling over the precipice of the Christians — Vast number 
punished 143 



CHAPTER YII. 

Severity of Prince Ramonja's punishment — Convict labour of Chris- 
tian officers — Kindness of the princes to the Christians — Numbers 
of the Christians — Voyage of Messrs. Cameron and Ellis to Mada- 
gascar — Opening the ports to foreign commerce — Second visit 
to Madagascar — Protracted intercourse with Christians from 
the capital — Visit to Mahavelona — Correspondence with Chris- 
tians at the capital — Andriambelo — Midnight meetings with the 
Christians — "Want of the Scriptures — Third visit to Madagascar 
— Arrival at the capital — Reception by the government — State- 
ment of the object of visit — Interviews with the prince and 
Hamonja 174 



CHAPTER YIII. 

Favourable effect of message of friendship from England — Visits to 
remarkable places — Interview with the commander-in-chief — The 
queen's hospitality — Deeply affecting recitals of sufferings of the 
Christians — Hopes inspired by the results of persecution in 
other countries — Conferences and prayer with the leaders of 
the Christians — Social life among the disciples — The prevalence 
of prayer — Times and places of united worship — Christians from 
Vonizongo — Conversation with the young — Visit of Mr. Lam- 
bert to the capital, and his statements to the Christians— Places 



viii CONTEXTS. 

Chapter YIII. — (continued). 

PAGE 

where the martyrs suffered — Farewell visit from the prince and 
princess — Last night with the Christians — Departure from Mada- 
gascar and return to England — Eeview of the progress and 
state of Christianity in the country — Eeturn of Mr. Lambert to 
the capital— The last persecution — Numbers implicated — Bar- 
barity of the executions — Illness and death of the queen — Notice 
of her character and reign 198 

CHAPTER IX. 

The end of the persecutions — Eadama II. proclaimed king — Pro- 
clamation of religious liberty — The exiles and Christians in fetters 
recalled— The claims of the idols disregarded — The use of the 
tangena and sorcery abolished — The king's orders for the adminis- 
tration of justice — His treatment of the conquered races— His 
want of better counsellors — Increase of intemperance in the 
country — Eeturn of French traders and priests — Voyage to Mau- 
ritius—First movement towards the erection of memorial churches 
— Letter to the king on the subject — Arrival in Madagascar- 
Journey to the capital — Interview with the king and queen- 
Visits from the widows and children of the martyrs — Prince Ba- 
monja and the Prime Minister — Visit to Ambohipotsy and Am- 
pamarinana — First Sunday in the capital — Deliverance from 
dread of slavery 223 

CHAPTER X. 

Teaching English — The king not a Christian— Early commence- 
ment of Sabbath services — Conversations with the Christians- 
Influences favouring the reception of the gospel — Family re- 
ligion — Parental attention to the young — The mother's good in- 
fluence—Statistics of the progressive increase of the Christians 
during the successive persecutions — Astonishing results — In- 
fluence of character — Arrival of foreign embassies — Visits to the 
places where the martyrs suffered — Present to the English em- 
bassy — Notice of a converted warrior priest — Introduction of 
the gospel to Betsileo— Description of the idols — Satisfactory 
conversation with the Bishop of Mauritius respecting Church of 
England missionaries — Views of the Society for the Propagation 
of the Gospel respecting Madagascar — Principles on which Scrip- 
tures were distributed among the people 256 



CONTENTS. IX 

CHAPTER XL 

PAGE 

Welcome of the missionaries from England— United communion — 
Liberality of the English embassy — The sacred city of Ambohi- 
manga — Sabbath services in the city — Death of Malagasy chief- 
tains — Organization of native churches — Titles given for sites of 
memorial churches — First church at Ankadibevava — Uneasiness 
in the capital — Pretended supernatural messages to the king — 
The dancing sickness —Warnings of danger — Remonstrance of 
the nobles — Revolution — Death of the king — Reflections on his 
character — Accession of Rasoherina— Germs of constitutional 
government — Religious liberty continued— The first missionary 
prayer meeting— Visits of Christians from the north — Exten- 
sive and beneficial influence of the medical department of the 
mission 286 



CHAPTER XII. 

Coronation of Rasoherina — Rumours respecting Radama— First 
public recognition of the Christians— Religious services at Am- 
bohimanga during the queen's visit — Christian procession to the 
palace on Christmas day— Review of the events of the year — 
Opening of the central school — Yisit to Vonizongo — Employment 
of native preachers — The Ciiristians at Betsileo — Instance of the 
power of the gospel— Chapel at A mbohitantely— Historical sta- 
tistics of Ilafy — Visit to the Martyrs' Home — Chapels opened in 
the capital — Return of a captured slave to her homa — Christians 
at Imerinamandrosa— Scene of the martyrs' suffering 315 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Bereavements of the Mission — New churches and increased attend- 
ance — Introduction of public Christian marriage— Yisit to La- 
zaina — Notice of Ranivo's family— Treaty with England — Queen 
Victoria's message and Queen Rasoherina's reply — Journey to 
the west — Reinforcement of the mission — Departure of Mr. Ellis 
— Prosperous close of the year — Opening of the first memorial 
church — Its influence on the people — Welcome arrival of mission- 
aries from the Friends — The queen's visit to the coast— Zealous 
efforts of the Christians among the heathen — Return of the queen 
to the capital — Results of the preaching of the gospel — Remark- 
able increase of the Christians at the close of the year 343 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XIY. 

p. 

Illness of the queen — Failure of the conspiracy to change the dy- 
nasty — Death of the queen — Proclamation of her successor — 
Trial and punishment of the conspirators — Ranavalona's re- 
fusal to acknowledge the priests, idols, and diviners — Edicts re- 
specting the Sabbath — Christian worship within the precincts of 
the palace — General religious awakening among the people — 
Missionary visit to Fianarantsoa — Buildings of stone and bricks 
authorized in the capital — Multitudes assembled at the coronation 
— The crown and the Bible — Speech of the queen — Declaration of 
religious liberty — Influence of the coronation — Opening of the 
second memorial church — Presence of the queen and court — Re- 
view of the year — Baptism of the queen and prime minister — 
Religious services within the palace — The queen and prime 
minister partake of the Lord's Supper — Training of a native 
ministry — Mr. Sewell's testimony — Spread of the gospel in 
Betsileo — Foundation-stone of the Chapel Eoyal — Fifty years of 
missionary labour in Madagascar — Their glorious results — Inade- 
quacy of present missionary agencies — Appeal for help c 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Native Pastor and Deacons at Ambatonakanga Frontispiece 





PAGE 




PAGE 


Punishment of Slaves 


20 


Consolation to a Christian in 




Malagasy Tombs 


24 


Fetters 


220 


Tomb of a Noble 


26 


Interior of Malagasy Kitchen 


287 


Ambodinandohalo 


66 


Ambohimanga, from the 




Malagasy Idol 


80 


North-west 


295 


Native Smiths and Iron 




Eev. R. Toy, and Class of 




Smelting 


104 


Native Preachers 


310 


The Tsitialaingia and other 




Isarotrafohy, the Martyrs' 




Spears 


120 


Home 


334 


Place of the First Martyr- 




View in Antananarivo 


338 


dom 


122 


Village of Lazaina 


350 


The Traveller's Tree 


133 


Bridge over the Andromba... 


352 


Hova Officers, &c 


177 


Martyr Memorial Church at 




The Lace-leaf Plant 


192 


Ambohipotsy 


384 



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THE 

MARTYR CHURCH OF MADAGASCAR. 



CHAPTER I. 



Brief notice of the country and people — Eadama and his army at 
Tamatave — Abolition of the slave trade — Destructive cha- 
racter of Radama's wars — Incipient civilization among the 
Hovas — Eesources of the country— General condition of the 
people — Disastrous effects of slavery on bond and free — San- 
guinary character of the Malagasy laws — Administration of 
justice — The tangena or poison ordeal — Mental faculties of 
the people — Defective morals of the community — Malagasy 
tombs — Robbery of the dead — Licentiousness of the people 
— Idolatries of Madagascar — Worship and sacrifices — The 
god of the tangena or poison — The sikidy or divination — 
Hardening influence of idolatry on the heart — Its mercenary 
character. 

Towards the close of the thirteenth century, Marco 
Paolo, the celebrated Venetian traveller, made known 
to Europe the existence of a large African island, 
which he called Magaster, but which is now known 
as Madagascar. This is not the native name of the 
island. The inhabitants themselves, according to 
their former insular ideas of the world, called their 
country Izao arribany lanitra, "This beneath the 
B 



2 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

sky;" or Ny anivony ny riuka, "The (all) in the 
centre of the sea ; " and inscribed this latter designa- 
tion on the tomb of Eadama, the first sovereign 
whose authority extended over the greater part of the 
country. This splendid island, one of the largest 
in the world, which is separated from the eastern 
coast of Southern Africa by the Mosambique Chan- 
nel, is 900 miles long and 300 broad, and has been 
estimated to contain more than 2,000,000 of acres 
of land. 

The central regions of Madagascar are at least 
6,000 feet above the sea, while some of the single 
mountains rise to double that elevation. The lower 
ranges of the country are fertile, richly wooded, and 
well watered, the mountain streams occasionally 
forming extensive lakes, and the pent-up waters near 
the coast frequently spreading out into marshy 
swamps, which render the surrounding country at 
certain seasons of the year highly insalubrious to 
natives of other parts, as well as to foreigners. Iron 
is abundant, and other metals exist in the country. 
Valuable gums are found in the forests, which also 
yield serviceable timber. The geographical position, 
extent, climate, and other natural advantages of the 
country, seem admirably suited to stimulate the 
enterprise of its inhabitants to render it, by their 
intelligence and industry, the cherished home of a 
civilized and prosperous people. 

According to the census of a former government, 
calculated from a return of the number of houses in 
the country, the population of Madagascar was stated 



POPULATION AND PACE. 3 

to be four and a half millions. This could only "be 
an approximate estimate, and was, according to sub- 
sequent observation and inquiry, probably nearly a 
million larger than the existing number of the 
people. Native traditions describe the country as 
formerly inhabited by a single homogeneous people, 
called Yazimba. The present population evidently 
comprises several races. Chief among these are the 
Malayo-Polynesian from the east, the East African, 
the Arabs, and the Moors from the north. The 
Hovas, who have evidently a Polynesian origin, 
occupy the elevated and central parts of the island. 
This race, though themselves formerly tributary to 
the more numerous Sakalavas of Menabe in the 
south-west, have, since their alliance with the Eng- 
lish, subjugated the other races, established their 
military posts in every province, and now receive 
acknowledgment and homage, if not tribute, as the 
rulers over the entire country. 

Until within the present century the natives of 
Europe had regarded the Malagasy as untamed 
savages, and valued their country chiefly as a vast 
preserve, or hunting-ground for slaves. Shipwrecked 
mariners had, at different times, been cast upon the 
shores of Madagascar, and though some of these had 
found shelter and aid, others had been murdered, or 
kept as slaves by the chiefs on the coast. The only 
Europeans who, prior to this period, had penetrated 
the interior of the country, had been connected with 
the traffic in slaves ; and the inhabitants, naturally 
supposing that the revolting vices and rapine of the 



4 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

slave-hunters characterized all white men, beheld the 
arrival of the latter with alarm and terror, some 
regarding them as cannibals. 

The earliest embassy of friendship to the central 
regions of Madagascar was sent by the English in 
1816 to the first Eadama, ruler of the Hovas, and 
then in the twenty-fourth year of his age. This 
young prince, the most enlightened ruler ever known 
in Madagascar, joyfully welcomed the peaceful and 
friendly envoy, and treated him with assiduous and 
gentle kindness when prostrate beneath the dreaded 
Malagasy fever, under which a number of his com- 
panions died. Eadama finally ratified his treaty of 
amity and good-will with the English by the solemn 
and binding oath of blood. 

Dissatisfied, during the following year, with the 
two chiefs of tribes on the eastern coast, one of 
whom had insultingly called him " a beardless boy," 
Eadama, with his usual prompt decision and action, 
marched down to the coast with 20,000 men to call 
these chiefs to account, and proclaim himself king of 
Madagascar. He was encamped near Tamatave 
when the Phaeton, having on board his brothers with 
the British agent, and presents from the Governor of 
Mauritius, entered the harbour. On landing, the 
party from the frigate were received by Eadama' s 
body-guard of 200 men, by whom they were escorted 
about half a mile from the coast, when, coming sud- 
denly to a small bank, the whole Hova army appeared 
before them. Eadama was seated in a kind of 
palanquin borne by slaves, the scantily clothed troops 



formed a circle around, squatting on their heels, and 
holding their muskets or spears upright before them. 
The men rose up as the strangers came in sight, and 
the king, having advanced and welcomed them, made 
a signal to the troops, who, firing a salute, enveloped 
them in a cloud of smoke. Radama then led his 
visitors into a house, and, offering them wine, 
expressed his thanks for the attention paid to his 
brothers whom he had sent to Mauritius for educa- 
tion, and for the presents, which included three 
horses sent for his own use. 

On Captain Stanfell expressing a wish to see a 
portion of his army march past, the king gave the 
order, and a large number of the men immediately 
commenced running past, shouting at the top of 
their voices, " Tsara be Radama ! " (Greatly good 
Radama), which was, probably, their battle cry. 
After the captain had returned to .his ship, several 
young officers, marching between the royal body- 
guard, accompanied the king to his camp, which 
occupied an open space in the midst of an extensive 
forest. The tents were formed of branches of trees, 
and roofed with the broad leaves of the Traveller's 
and other trees ; or spears were fixed in the ground, 
and covered with rofia cloth, or with the lambas 
(large scarfs) of the officers. The men took their 
meals on the ground, using broad leaves for 
plates. The rice and other food in the place being 
in a few days consumed, the Hovas returned to the 
capital. On the march the king was carried in his 
palanquin, at the head of his forces, attended by his 



b THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

guard, and a Dumber of singing-women, who also 
fanned him with bunches of feathers fastened to the 
ends of long elastic wands. These women, who, 
with heads and feet uncovered, were clothed in 
gaily coloured dresses, wore strings of beads, or 
silver chains of native manufacture, some of them 
massive and heavy, on their necks, wrists, and 
ankles.* 

Notwithstanding Eadama's desire to render his 
government just and humane, the miseries of the 
people at this period were often painfully visible. 
As the British agent, with the charge of the horses, 
followed the army to Imerina, he found in the 
nearest village to the port only a single house 
standing ; fifty dwellings were reduced to ashes, and 
the rest had been torn down to make rafts for the 
troops crossing the river. Other villages presented 
only heaps of ashes, and dead bodies frequently lay 
unburied in the open roads or paths through the 
forest. These incidents, connected with the earliest 
intercourse between the English and the Hovas, are 
noticed somewhat in detail on account of the results 
which followed that intercourse, and as showing the 
condition of the people at the time when, as the 
natives express it, "England was the first to hold 
out the hand of friendship to Madagascar." 

The first great fruit of this friendship was the 

* The above notices of this interview are derived from an inte- 
resting letter from the late Professor Henslow's younger brother, 
who was an officer on board the Phaeton at the time, and accom- 
panied the captain on shore. 



SLAVE TKADE. 7 

abolition of the slave trade, which was accomplished 
by a formal treaty between England and Madagascar, 
dnly signed by the representatives of Eadama, and 
of the Governor of Mauritius, at Tamatave, in 1817, 
four months after the English and the Hovas had 
met for the first time at that port. 

There is no reason to suppose that the traffic in 
slaves in Madagascar was less productive of misery 
and death there than in other countries ; but 
it is estimated that not fewer than 3,000 or 4,000 
were annually shipped from Tamatave and other 
ports on the eastern coast. They were formed into 
gangs of from 50 to 200, with iron handcuffs on their 
wrists, and thus bound together in companies with 
cords, were driven like cattle to the ports, whence 
they were conveyed to Eeunion or Mauritius, 
America or the West Indies. Erom these miseries 
the treaty with England delivered the Malagasy. 
They belong to the past, but one affecting memorial 
of the sorrows thus produced still survives on the 
summit of a hill over which the traveller passes, on 
one of the mountain roads leading from the coast to 
the capital. Here the unhappy captives first came 
in sight of that dreaded sea across which they were 
to pass, never to return ; while from the same spot, 
looking back, they often saw for the last time the 
summits of the mountains on the borders of Ankova, 
their own beloved home. This spot is called the 
" weeping-place of the Hovas." 

Motives of humanity influenced the English in 
these efforts to put an end to the slave trade, and 



THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

many important benefits were secured by the treaty 
which destroyed it ; but other consequences followed, 
some of them as afflicting, and for a time as destruc- 
tive of human life, as that traffic had been. The 
king had a royalty of a dollar on each slave taken 
from his dominions, and in order to compensate him 
for this loss other advantages were promised by the 
English. These included the education in England 
of a number of native youths, the receiving of others 
on board our ships to learn seamanship, together 
with aid to enable the king to arm and train his 
soldiers after the European plan. Thus aided, he 
deemed himself superior to any other native ruler, 
and impelled by his thirst for conquest, enrolled the 
able-bodied free men of his dominions in his army, 
invaded the territories, and commenced hostilities 
against the independent rulers of the several races in 
the island. Some of these wars lasted for years, and 
ail ended in the defeat of the chieftains, and the 
nominal subjection of the whole island to Eadama. 

The king was not addicted to needless slaughter 
in his wars, but whatever clemency he himself might 
show to the vanquished, his lieutenants, or those on 
whom devolved the chastisement of any who still 
aspired after freedom, or hesitated to acknowledge 
his supremacy, were rarely influenced by humane 
considerations. Most of them appear to have been 
impelled by lust of power and of plunder, and by a 
sort of fiendish satisfaction in the wanton destruction 
of human life. 

Not unfrequently the men who had been vanquished, 



CHARACTER OF RADAMA. 9 

or decoyed by specious promises to surrender, were 
disarmed and cruelly murdered, their towns or villages 
burned, their cattle seized, and their women and 
children driven home by the Hovas, and sold as 
slaves in the public market ; while towns and villages 
were left in ashes, and vast tracts of country desolated 
and without inhabitants. Among the flower of the 
male population of Ankova their wars were terribly 
destructive. Old men speak cf the numbers of 
light-coloured, vigorous youth of the province of 
A.nkova, who in the armies of Eaclama and his 
successor left their homes never to return. These 
men speak also of the resemblance originally in figure, 
in flowing hair, and in complexion, of the general 
population of Imerina, so different from the mixture 
of races in the capital and the suburbs at the present 
day. 

The Supreme Ruler of the universe can educe good 
out of evil ; and calamitous as, to the then existing 
generations, the transition from a state of comparative 
independence and self-government to one of enforced 
obedience under a military and alien sovereignty 
may have been at the time, it may ultimately prove 
to have been the best, if not the only means of uniting 
the people under one rule, and preparing the way for 
their becoming, under a wise, just, and enlightened 
government, a united and prosperous people. 

Radama was in many respects a remarkable man. 
His natural sagacity, clearness of perception, and 
vigour of thought often enabled him intuitively to 
comprehend the utility and value of the new objects 



10 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

brought under his notice. The physical strength of 
Europeans at times greatly astonished him. Witness- 
ing, on one occasion, the comparative ease with which 
the English smith, while engaged at his work, re- 
moved a heavy anvil which neither the king nor any 
of his attendants could lift from the ground, he 
exclaimed, "These would be dangerous people to 
fight with ! " But Eadama estimated the intelligence 
and skill of the foreigners far higher than their 
physical strength, their riches, or political power; 
and while stipulating with the British agent for the 
means of conquering the country, he earnestly im- 
plored aid in the acquisition of knowledge for himself 
and his people. 

The earliest use which the king made of the friend- 
ship of the English was to send a number of youths 
to them for education, and to ask for instructors in 
useful arts as the means of elevating the people and 
developing the resources of the country. 

Compared with Europeans the Malagasy were un- 
civilized, though in some respects they were greatly 
in advance of the tribes inhabiting the adjacent 
coast of Africa* or Mosambique, the natives of 
Australia, or the South Sea Islanders ; and they had 
already attained some of the important elements of 
a higher civilization. Most of the races had an 

* A foreigner once remarking to Radama that if the people did 
not avail themselves of the means of instruction, they would be 
like the Mosambiques, for the Malagasy and the Africans were the 
only nations who could not read and write, he replied that he 
would rather not be king at all than rule over such an ignorant 
people. 



CLIMATE AND CULTIVATION. 11 

organized civil government. They were a nation of 
agriculturists and herdsmen. The flesh of the ox 
constituted their chief animal food, and though some 
of the tribes, such as the Sakalavas on the west 
coast, cultivated arrowroot, or a species of pulse, and 
though fruits were abundant, rice was with most of 
them the staff of life, and constituted their daily food. 
Oxen and rice were also, after the abolition of trade 
in slaves, their most important articles of export. 

The climate of Madagascar is warm, yet all the 
inhabitants, above the very poor, are decently, and 
some of them now richly clothed. Large herds of 
cattle fed on their plains, or were fattened in their 
pens or stalls, yet the people never clothed themselves 
with their skins.* Caterpillars or worms of different 
kinds feed on the leaves of indigenous or exotic 
plants, and spin delicately fine or coarse silk, which 
is cleaned, and coloured with native dyes. This 
silk is spun in simple looms, of Indian or Arabian 
origin, woven not unfrequently with beautiful and 
curious patterns into rich and gorgeous dresses 
for the nobles of both sexes, and for the higher 
classes in Madagascar generally. Cotton is grown 
throughout the country, and a species of nettle 
yields a tenacious fibre resembling hemp, which is 
also manufactured into strong and durable woven 
cloth, worn by the farmers and middle classes, 
wrapped round the body by day, and spread over 

* The skin of an ox killed for food is not removed before the 
carcass is cut up, but is either left on until the meat is cooked, 
or is taken off and cooked separately. 



12 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

them as a counterpane by night. The leaflet of the 
large, majestic rofia palm is slit into threads and 
woven into cloth, which is used for many purposes, 
besides furnishing almost the only clothing worn 
through life by thousands of the slaves. 
• The native iron is of excellent quality, and the 
people have long been accustomed, by a rude and 
simple process of smelting, to render it available for 
two of the most important purposes of life — the 
supply of food, and the means of defence. No plough 
is used in the country, but watercourses are cut, and 
the fields are dug and prepared to receive the seed 
with spades manufactured by the people out of 
native iron. The head of the spear, their national 
weapon, originally the fire-hardened and pointed 
end of a stick, then a shaft armed with a kind of 
porcelain or burnt clay, has now for many gene- 
rations been made of iron, the use of which is 
reported to have been introduced by the Hovas, and 
first employed in their conflicts with the Vazimba, 
or earlier inhabitants of the country. Sentence of 
death was sometimes inflicted on military criminals 
by cutting off their heads with the edge of a spear. 
Knives, axes, and other articles of iron were in use 
amongst them before their acquaintance with the 
English. 

Measured by our European standard the Malagasy 
might be deemed ignorant and barbarian; but a 
people whose chief food was rice and beef or poultry, 
whose clothing was silk, cotton, flaxen, or other 
woven cloth, who built houses with walls of wood or 



GOVERNMENT. 13 

stone, who fortified their towns and villages with 
walls and moats, and the entrance to which was 
through stone-built gateways, of which numerous 
examples still exist, who possessed iron implements 
of tillage and weapons of war, could not be con- 
sidered destitute of the material elements of a higher 
civilization, nor unworthy of the highest efforts of 
Christian philanthropy. 

The outward circumstances of the people were, at 
the period now under review, better than their morals 
or their religion, and the former had been for some 
time progressively deteriorating. Their earliest 
forms of government appear to have been patriarchal 
and simple, and the social morals of the people who 
had retained their earlier simple habits of life were 
superior to those of their successors, to whom increase 
of riches and power had brought the greatest 
changes. 

The introduction of foreign weapons, especially 
firearms, chiefly by the slave dealers, stimulated the 
inhabitants around the harbours and in the interior 
centres of population to frequent forays amongst the 
outlying villages, or to more formidable expeditions, 
chiefly for the capture of slaves ; and these habits of 
life had introduced a government of military des- 
potism among several important tribes at the time 
when Eadama became sovereign of the Hovas. 

This ruler, favoured by the subsidies from Eng- 
land, soon overran the entire country, and became 
the acknowledged, if not the actual sovereign of the 
whole. As such he claimed the country with its 



14 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

produce as his property, and the inhabitants as his 
dependents and servants, holding their lands, how- 
ever extensive, by virtue of his consent, and only 
during his pleasure. The inhabitants of the provinces 
retained their own social and general regulations, but 
Eadama's word was supreme law throughout the 
land, and he claimed the power of life and death 
over the entire population. In the exercise of this 
onerous authority he associated with himself men of 
high rank and reputed wisdom, but his own will was 
always finally supreme. The exercise of this system 
of absolutism was occasionally mitigated, within the 
range of the king's personal influence, by the public 
and material encouragement with which he rewarded 
industry and stimulated improvement; but such 
encouragement was regarded as selfish when it was 
found that the government monopolized the advan- 
tages of every improvement, which was prized not as 
a source of additional benefit to the people, but as a 
means of enriching the members of the government, 
increasing the revenue, or augmenting the army. 

The national revenue, not then large, was derived 
from the spoils of war, the produce of the soil, cus- 
toms dues at the ports, profits on trade, a sort of poll 
tax on slaves, a portion of the fines levied by the 
judges, the property of criminals, the Hasina, or 
acknowledgment made on appearing before the 
sovereign, and the fanompoana or government service 
required from all classes. The most skilful artisans 
in the country, goldsmiths, silversmiths, manu- 
facturers of most expensive silk lambas, or mantles, 



GOVERNMENT SERVICE. 15 

were forced to perform without pay all the work in 
their respective crafts required by the government ; 
and when, shortly afterwards, the lay members of 
the mission taught the men and youths to work in 
iron and wood, to construct machinery, tan leather, 
to weave with English looms, to make bricks, and 
burn lime, all who learned were also required to 
work for the government without wages. Even the 
women and children whom the wives of the first 
missionaries taught needlework became thereby 
government servants.* A few were probably sen- 
sible of pleasurable emotions arising from the acqui- 
sition of knowledge and skill so useful, but the 
increased demands for unrequited labour to which 
these attainments subjected their possessor prevented 
all enthusiasm, and retarded their extension among 
the people.f These, and other unrequited labourers 

* An unexpected and somewhat amusing illustration of this 
kind of government service occurred in the preparation of my out- 
fit for my first journey to the capital. The Governor of Tamatave 
had sent for my service, a few days before I was to set out, a light 
and convenient palanquin ; the government smith had repaired the 
ironwork, but it had no cover to keep out the rain, and I was a 
little amused when, soon after daylight the next morning, two 
middle-aged females, apparently superintendents of the rest, fol- 
lowed by three-and-twenty young women, came with sewing appa- 
ratus, to fit the covering of my palanquin. — " Three Visits to 
Madagascar" p. 271. 

f I was once putting up some bookshelves in my room, assisted 
by a native servant whom I had hired from his owner, and who 
was attentive, obliging, and honest ; when, having marked the 
length of a shelf on the board, I held out the saw and asked him to 
cut it off; but he drew back, observing, "I have work enough 
without wages already, I don't wish to become a carpenter.' 



16 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

for the government, as well as the soldiers, were all 
free men. 

When Captain Le Sage visited Antananarivo in 
1816, Eadama's fighting men, drawn from the several 
districts to the province of Ankova, amounted pro- 
bably to 20,000. These consisted of the ordinary 
peasantry of the country, led by their local chief- 
tains, under the supreme command of the king or 
his officers. The English envoy had been accom- 
panied by thirty men to show the Hovas the weapons 
and manoeuvres of foreign soldiers, and two of these 
had been left with the king to train his troops after 
the European manner. The appearance and the 
march past of these in the following year, before the 
king and Captain Stanfell, did not indicate any 
change. Eadama's military force, though at that 
time inferior in number, if not in efficiency, to that 
of the Sakalavas and others, was afterwards largely 
increased, and armed to a great extent with muskets. 
The troops received no pay, and only occasionally 
articles of clothing. In distant expeditions they 
depended on the provisions they might find, and at 
home on the fruits of their own exertions, and on 
the labour of their relatives. Cowardice in the face 
of the enemy, or desertion, was punished with burn- 
ing alive ; sometimes, as a mark of favour, the 
culprits were shot before they were burned. 

If the civilization or barbarism of a people is 
shown by its laws and their punishments, the 
Malagasy would seem to have been barbarian at the 
time of our early acquaintance with them. The 



THE TANGENA ORDEAL. 17 

usages of more enlightened nations existed in the 
appointment of judges, and the open courts in which 
the accuser and the accused, with their witnesses, 
were confronted. But it was seldom more than 
form ; the integrity and virtue requisite to its prac- 
tical value were wanting. Eeverence for the sanctity 
of an oath, respect for truth, and judgment according 
to evidence, rarely characterized their judicial pro- 



The simplest forms of justice never attended the 
use of the tangena or poison. This fearful ordeal, 
employed to prove the innocence or guilt of persons 
accused, sometimes of purely imaginary crimes, could 
be made, by the preparer of the poison, to inflict at 
once sentence and execution on its unhappy victim. 
So frequent was the use of this appalling ordeal, that 
it was supposed that one-tenth of the population drank 
it in the course of their lives — some twice or thrice, — 
and that one-half of those who drank it died. Thus, 
besides the misery and poverty imposed on survivors, 
three thousand persons, mostly in the prime of life, 
perished every year from this monstrous device, 
which superstition, policy, and greed inflicted on the 
people* 

Eadama, humane and considerate as he generally 
was, felt no obligation to respect life when he was 
offended. A slave one day attending at table had 
the misfortune to break a dish. The king ordered 
an officer near him to take the man away, and see 
that he never committed the offence again. The 

* "History of Madagascar," vol. i., p. 487. 
C 



18 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 






officer called the man out, returned soon afterwards, 
and, in answer to the king's inquiry, said he was 
dead. Equally summary death was inflicted after- 
wards by the king's widow, when a female slave, 
pouring water on the queen's hands, spilled a small 
quantity on her dress. It needed only a look and a 
sign from the sovereign, and the poor girl was taken 
away and put to death. 

Nothing among the Malagasy was more repugnant 
to every humane feeling than the cruelty of their 
punishments, and the barbarity with which they 
were inflicted. Fourteen crimes, the chief of which 
comprised the several varieties of treason, were pun- 
ished with death, inflicted in almost as many different 
ways. Some of these punishments were fearfully 
agonizing and protracted, especially burning by a 
slow fire, flogging to death, starving to death, and 
crucifixion. The more ordinary methods were spear- 
ing, beheading, hurling over a precipice, suffocating 
in a pit with boiling water, and dashing out the 
brains, as when sentenced by the tangena to death. 
No proceeding could be more revolting than their 
behaviour to the culprits before execution, or the 
treatment of their bodies afterwards. The execution 
of criminals was a sort of public holiday, to which 
adults and children repaired; and familiarity with 
such spectacles doubtless contributed much to the 
hardness of heart, and want of all humane feeling so 
often manifested in the shedding of blood and the 
infliction of suffering. 

Although the administration of justice was seldom 



TREATMENT OF SLAVES. 19 

pure, and often regulated by the ability and willing- 
ness of the suitor to bribe the judges, the frequency 
with which the latter were appealed to showed that 
the people were quarrelsome, or exceedingly fond of 
litigation. 

Domestic slavery, which has prevailed from a 
remote period, was, when compared with that of the 
West Indies or America, comparatively mild, but it 
was still slavery. The master exercised entire con- 
trol over the slave and his offspring. He could sever 
all the natural ties of human life, and extract for his 
own benefit, or sell to others, all the labour his slave 
was able to perform. The male slaves cultivated 
the ground for their masters, and also fetched 
wood from the forest. They were by some masters 
treated with great cruelty. I once saw a boy about 
fifteen years of age, with a rough heavy iron collar 
on his neck, working with a number of other boys 
or men carrying firewood. Another slave whom I 
saw working near the same place had an iron collar 
round his neck, with pointed iron spikes six or seven 
inches long fixed in the collar and standing up by 
the sides of his head* 

Certain labours in the culture of rice were per- 
formed by female slaves, but they were chiefly em- 
ployed in household occupations; also in dressing 
and spinning cotton or hemp, weaving it into native 
cloth for articles of dress, making rush and other 
baskets, and preparing the fibre of the rofia and other 
trees for being woven into cloth. Married slaves 

* " Three Visits to Madagascar," p. 143. 



20 



THE MARTYR CHURCH. 



occasionally live in sincere affection towards each 
other, and manifest great fondness for their children, 
but are liable to be separated by one of the parties 
being sold and sent away, never to return. The 
children belong to the owner of the mother ; and the 




charge of an infant, whose advent is welcomed by 
the owners as an increase to their property, is added 
to the mother's ordinary labour, perhaps interrupted 
only for a week, after which a slave-mother may be 
seen working in the fields, or bringing home a large 



PUNISHMENT OF SLAVES. 



21 



jar full of water on her head, carrying at the same 
time her child on her back. 

Though the punishments of the female slave were 
less severe than those inflicted on the men, they were 
at times painfully irksome and degrading. I one day 




entered a house in which a number of female slaves 
were carrying baskets of cotton, prepared for spin- 
ning, from one room to another, and as they passed 
aloug, I saw one young girl who had a couple of 
boards fixed on her shoulders, each of them rather 



22 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

more than two feet long and a foot wide, fastened 
together by pieces of wood nailed on the under 
side. A piece had been cut out of each board in 
the middle, so that, when fixed together, they fitted 
close to her neck, and the poor girl, while wearing 
this instrument of punishment and disgrace, was 
working with the rest. 

Some of the nobles own 200 or 300 slaves, and 
where their masters are rich and prosperous the 
bondage is comparatively easy, though the slave can 
possess no property, and has no rights. Some idea 
of the estimate in which they were held may be 
gathered from the answer of Eadama, who, when the 
British agent proposed a money compensation for the 
loss of the profit on the sale of slaves, replied, " They 
are not worth their keep to us." Though the work 
of the slaves is comparatively light, slavery is a 
calamity and a curse both to master and slave. One 
of the great evils arising from it was, and still is, the 
dignifying of idleness as belonging to freedom, and 
the degrading of labour by making it the badge of 
slavery. Few free men, except the very poor, ever 
engaged in any regular employment, or, except a small 
class of traders, sought to increase their means by 
their own exertions. The continuance of slavery 
will be one of the most formidable barriers to the 
civilization and improvement of the people, as well 
as a source of increasing weakness to the free portion 
of the nation, if its continued existence does not 
actually lead to their ultimate subjection, and the 
loss of their country to a more free and powerful race. 



MENTAL AND MORAL ASPECT. 23 

The mental faculties of the Malagasy are often 
active and clear, though necessarily limited in their 
range of operation, and those of the Hovas are, in 
this respect, superior to the rest of their country- 
men. Many were earnest questioners, gladly wel- 
coming additions to their knowledge and materials 
for thought. Some cherished a passion for calcula- 
tion, seeming to be arithmeticians by intuition ; but 
the delight of greater numbers was in miady varotra 
(the battle of bargaining), in which they are occasion- 
ally clever, and always eager ; and although spending 
much time and labour for but little profit, they are 
better pleased than with equal gain without dispu- 
tation. 

Whatever may have been the morals of the quiet 
and peaceable tribes when the English first pene- 
trated the interior of the country, those of the Hovas 
were revolting and depraved. Courtesy, propriety, and 
seeming sincerity characterized their ordinary social 
intercourse, but these semblances of virtue rendered 
only more offensive the vices which they concealed. 
The moral difference between truth and false- 
hood was often not perceived. In many of their 
communications, especially with foreigners, truth 
was only accidental. Deception, especially if advan- 
tageous, was approved, and at times rewarded as a 
virtue ; and truth, if unfavourable, condemned as a 
weakness, and a crime to be punished. The advan- 
tage to be gained was chiefly considered, and the 
love of truth for its own sake seemed unknown. The 
practice of bribery in the administration of law 



24 



THE MARTYR CHURCH. 



destroyed the value of evidence, and often gave judi- 
cial sanction to perjury. Few felt any obligation to 
speak the truth when falsehood would serve their 
purpose better ; and the habit became so strong that 
at times they neither believed each other nor them- 
selves. 

Honesty, so nearly allied to truth, was scarcely 
more regarded. The honesty which tradition ascribes 
to their ancestors, in the security of goods in the 




market, has long ceased, if, indeed, it was ever more 
than a myth, and the number and severity of the 
punishments inflicted by law for theft, which was 
often attended with murder, show its frequency and 
danger. The police, or watchmen, patrol the capital 
every night, and the house and premises of every 



TOMBS. 25 

person of property in Imerina are surrounded by a 
high wall of burnt clay, armed along the top by 
several lines of firmly fixed, sharp-pointed pieces of 
bone or hard wood, for greater protection against 
thieves. 

The custom of burying with the dead the treasures 
they most valued while living, and placing money 
in the mouth of the corpse, necessitates the careful 
guarding of the dead until the tomb is made secure. 
Funeral observances always ended with feasting, and 
at the interment of a rich chieftain, forty or fifty 
oxen have been sometimes slaughtered. On these 
occasions it was customary to fix the bullocks' skulls, 
with the horns attached, on poles set up near the 
tomb, round which a low fence of horns was some- 
times also fixed. This practice of placing the trea- 
sures of the dead in their tombs, and depositing in 
one grave the bodies of successive generations, pro- 
bably caused the size and solidity of many of the 
native sepulchres. The remarkable square-cloistered 
and ornamented tomb at Isotry, which the father 
of the late, and the present prime minister prepared 
for himself, occupied nine years in building.* The 
smallest tombs were from three to six yards square. 
The nobles erected their own tombs during their 
lifetime. Tombs often occupied conspicuous places, 
and I have seen near some of the villages nearly 
twenty in a line on each side of the road. 

* It is reported that during the building of this tomb, he whose 
body was to be placed there requested his sons to open the door 
occasionally after his death, and let the sun shine in upon him. 



26 



THE MARTYR CHURCH. 



The accompanying illustration from a photograph 
represents the tomb which a noble of wealth and in- 
fluence had built near the capital, and in which he 
was interred a short time before my last visit. The 
contents of a grave were not considered safe until the 
tomb was finished, and the entrance walled up. A 




chief who died while I was at the capital, was buried 
in a large sepulchre, which had a stone in the door- 
way, and earth heaped up against it. An armed 
watch was appointed until the masonry should be 
finished. But during the second night ten men began 
removing the earth, preparatory to robbing the grave, 



MOKALS IN HOME LIFE. 27 

but fled when fired upon by the watch. The graves 
of those who are comparatively poor are violated for 
the sake even of the graveclothes, or for the few 
small pieces of silver placed in the month of the 
corpse. 

The morals of the people were most clearly seen 
in their domestic life. Families appeared to live 
together in peace and good- will towards each other, 
though in outbreaks of passionate rage the Mala- 
gasy was at times savagely cruel. Parents, as a 
rule, were fond of their children, though parental 
influence was weak, and control rarely exercised. 
Eadama's father had, for special military reasons, 
made drunkenness a capital crime, and the sobriety 
of the people at that time contrasted favourably 
against the intemperance with which foreign com- 
merce has since cursed the inhabitants, especially in 
the neighbourhood of the ports. 

The licentiousness of the people was at the same 
time almost universal. Chastity seldom existed 
except among the females protected by early betroth- 
ment ; but in the other sex it was neither esteemed 
nor expected. The marriage tie, loose and brittle as 
it was, prevailed among all classes, and was usually 
arranged by the parents with slight regard to the 
children, who were generally too young to have any 
opinion on the subject. The early age at which 
marriages were contracted, often with little previous 
acquaintance and no mutual attachment, rendered 
the tie extremely insecure, and often useless as a 
safeguard of virtue, or a check to immorality. 



28 THE MART YE CHURCH. 

Whatever may have been the relation of the sexes 
with regard to equality of numbers in former times, 
such had been the destruction of life among the 
men, caused by sickness and want of food during 
the frequent distant and protracted wars of Eadama 
and his immediate successor, that it was estimated 
that the women were as three to one of the entire 
population, a proportion which could not but be 
unfavourable to the morals of the people. Concu- 
binage was adopted by all whose means were equal 
to its expensiveness, and proved a constant source 
of misery, and of quarrels and litigation between 
members of the same family, as well as of frequent 
divorce and of ever-increasing demoralization, pro- 
ducing a state of misery and impurity of which 
civilized and Christian communities can form no 
adequate conception. But it is as remarkable as it 
is cheering to know that there were, during the same 
period, marriages of choice and affection, in which 
husband and wife remained united in loyalty and 
love to each other throughout life, notwithstanding 
the fearful prevalence of vice in the general com- 
munity. 

The Malagasy might be described, in a sense, as 
a religious people. The name of God was in con- 
stant use amongst them. "May God bless you" 
was a frequent acknowledgment of favour; an expres- 
sion of thanks, or a parting salutation. The term by 
which God is most frequently expressed signifies 
Prince of Heaven — literally, prince of fragrance or 
perfume. Another term also used means the source 



RELIGIOUS IDEAS. 29 

or cause of possession. But neither of these words 
was associated in the minds of the people with any 
idea of the true God as revealed in the Bible. They 
were used to designate the spirits of departed men, 
especially those of former sovereigns, or persons of 
renown. The idols, or other objects of religious 
homage or fear, were called God, and very naturally 
some of the great Creator's works. The sun, moon, 
and stars, certain mountains, the grand phenomena 
of nature, thunder, lightning, earthquakes, and hail, 
were said to be God. Also the genii, or demons, 
spiritual agents of good or evil inhabiting the invisi- 
ble world, were thus designated. The ruling sove- 
reign was called the visible God. Anything new 
which they were unable to comprehend was spoken 
of in the same manner. I once heard the production 
of some photographic likenesses which I had taken 
ascribed to God. There was, in its ordinary use, no 
moral signification or principle of true religion asso- 
ciated with the word God. 

The Malagasy had no idea of the immortality of 
the soul as revealed in the Scriptures ; but their first 
religious belief, as is the case with most unenlight- 
ened races, appears to have been in the separate 
existence of the human spirit after death. The 
earliest tradition of any worship relates to that which 
the Yazimba, the supposed aborigines of the central 
parts of the island, offered to the spirits of the dead. 
The tombs of this primitive race are most scrupu- 
lously preserved, and are still used for religious pur- 
poses. They frequently crown the summit of a lofty 



30 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

mountain, where at times the inhabitants of the sur- 
rounding villages assembled to offer sacrifices at the 
tomb to the spirits of the Vazimba. 

But there was still a craving after a nearer and 
more defined object of worship than a disembodied 
spirit in an invisible world ; and the material house- 
hold god, together with the idols of the individual 
members of the family, were the next constituted 
objects of trust and worship. Subsequently the 
heavenly bodies, certain valleys and mountains, in 
which idols were kept, or in which renowned men 
had lived, were deemed sacred and worshipped. The 
spirits of their ancestors, and those of the ancestors 
of the reigning sovereign, were objects of the highest 
religious regard. 

The so-called national idols were of comparatively 
modern origin, being an extension of the principle of 
household worship, introduced from political motives 
by successive rulers representing themselves as the 
fathers of the people. There are fifteen of these in 
Ankova, two of which were supposed to preside over 
the entire kingdom. The chief is Ea-ke-li-ma-la-za 
(renowned, but small). His influence is supposed to 
render the sovereign invincible and universally vic- 
torious, as well as to protect against crocodiles, 
sorcery, and incendiarism. The next is Ea-ma-ha- 
va-ly (able to answer). He is called God, sacred, and 
almighty, able to destroy or restore life, to control 
the thunder and lightning, and to give or withhold 
rain. He is also credited with a sort of omniscience 
from which nothing can be concealed. The whole 



PRIMITIVE WORSHIP. 31 

serpent tribe were said to be his servants. This idol 
was also a sort of Malagasy JEsculapius, to whose 
care the health of the province was confided. When 
sickness prevailed, or was threatened, the idol was 
brought in procession to the capital, where the in- 
habitants, together with thousands from the sur- 
rounding country, knelt in silence, with bared head and 
shoulders, in one vast assembly, while the idol was 
carried to and fro, raised on a pole above the kneel- 
ing multitude, the attendants accompanying the idol 
bearing a horn filled with honeyed water, which they 
sprinkled on the people, and assured them of safety. 

The primitive worship of the Malagasy was simple 
and spiritual. The Vazimba neither made images 
nor associated charms with their religious rites. A 
plain stone fixed upright at one end of a tomb, or a 
simple mound of earth and stones raised on the site 
of a grave, often in the midst of a grove, was their 
temple and altar. Their worship, the most esteemed 
in the country, combining homage and invocation, 
was accompanied with sacrifices of oxen, sheep, and 
poultry, the blood and fat of which were offered on 
the altar, and the rest eaten by the worshippers. 
These were the only sacrifices offered in Ankova. In 
former times, in the southern part of the country, 
human sacrifices were offered, not the captive, the 
slave, or the lowest members of society, but the 
highest and best, the chiefs or nobles, as most accept- 
able to the idols supposed to dispense the fruits of 
the earth, and to give prosperity to the people. 

The belief in a sort of fetishism, sorcery, or divina- 



32 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

tion, has been a source of the widest misery and 
crime, and has often enjoined the iniquitous and deadly 
poison ordeal, which is deified and invoked as the 
trier of innocence or guilt under the name of Eai- 
ma-na-man-ga, and has probably destroyed more 
lives and inflicted greater suffering than any other 
single cause in Madagascar. 

But the most direct power over the people was the 
sikidy, or divination, which, in different forms, pre- 
vailed throughout the island. Believed to have been 
received from a supernatural source, and regarded as 
the will of God, the influence of the sikidy extended 
over both worlds, affecting gods and men, as well as 
the unquiet ghosts which left their graves to disturb 
the living* The most baneful influence of the 
diviners was their pretending, by calculations based 
on the age and position of the moon at the period of 
birth, to reveal the destiny or vintana of every newly 
born infant, thus deciding, whatever its rank or 
parentage might be, whether its life should be pre- 
served or destroyed. The decisions were believed to 
be those of God, and though determined by a table of 
divination which might be worked almost like a game 
of chess,f were received by the people as their fate. 

* "When it was reported, soon after the death of Radama the 
First, that his ghost had been seen near his country palace, dressed 
in an embroidered scarlet uniform, which had been buried with 
him in his tomb at the capital, and mounted on one of his favourite 
horses which had been killed at his funeral, priests, offerings, and 
the diviners were sent to inquire the cause of his appearance, and 
to prevent his ghost causing further alarm to the people. 

f "History of Madagascar," vol. i., p. 431. 



SUPPOSED POWER OF IDOLS. 33 

Such were the external aspects of heathenism 
in Madagascar, and such were some of the objects 
of its worship, "but their name was legion. The whole 
land was full of idols. Their imagined power was 
supreme and resistless over every individual, from 
birth to death ; and the effect of their delusions was 
to darken the mind and deprave the heart. The 
tendency of idolatry was to enslave its votaries, as 
well as to shroud in hopeless and impenetrable mys- 
tery all that would be after death. 

The most intelligent and zealous worshipper of the 
idols invested them with no attribute of virtue or 
goodness, ascribed to them no intelligence or principle 
such as could impart worth and dignity to human 
character. The idols offered no aid in achieving 
the great purposes for which man has been created 
and his race perpetuated, nor tended to raise him 
above the selfish and grovelling instincts of animal 
existence. The great difference which they recog- 
nised between their idols and themselves was the 
possession, by the former, of supernatural power. 
That power their moral cowardice made them fear, 
and their selfishness made them covet, in order that 
they might be feared by others, or be able to destroy 
all who opposed them. 

While I was residing at the capital eighteen crimi- 
nals were publicly, in the presence of thousands, 
sentenced and beheaded in one day, and on another 
day fifteen fell beneath the executioner's spear. 
Observing to an intelligent officer that the thought 
of those days always filled me with horror, he 

D 



34 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

remarked more than once, "Those were days of 
power. Every heart in Antananarivo felt that power, 
and was filled with fear/ 5 This remark probably 
expressed the native idea of the supernatural power 
belonging to the objects of their worship — a power 
to fill the heart with fear, a power to kill. 

Improvements from other countries were at first 
opposed by the idols, and everything new excited 
their hate or their fear. Some were said to have a 
great antipathy to muskets and gunpowder, especially 
after one of the keepers had been shot in battle, 
while cheering on his comrades, and bearing the idol 
on his shoulder. 

The idols also were mean and covetous beings. 
No appeal was ever made to their compassion. 
Money payments were connected with all the trans- 
actions in which their idolatry was associated. 

The knowledge of divination is believed to have 
been imparted to the Malagasy by one of their 
renowned idols* and wherever the sikidy was em- 
ployed, the diviners must be paid. The preparers 
and the administerers of that deadly draught received 

* This idol was supposed to reside in a cavern in the rocky part 
of a lofty mountain thirty miles from the capital. In the part 
where his altars were fixed there is a reverheratory echo, in which 
probably originated the belief of audible answers being returned to 
those who visited the cavern and saluted the idol. Radama I. 
visiting this spot on one occasion saluted the idol, and was answered 
by a low, solemn voice. The king then offered his hasina, or present 
of money, when, a hand biding slowly moved forward to receive it, 
he seized the hand, exclaiming, "This is no god. This is a man ! " 
and gave instant orders to his attendants to drag out the impostor. 



DIVINATION". 35 

money for their work. "When the parties who drank 
the poison were prononnced guilty, and barbarously 
murdered, and even when their wives and children 
were sold into slavery, all their property was con- 
fiscated; half belonged to the king, the remainder 
being the perquisite of the executioners, while all the 
expenses of the trial were exacted from the family 
or relatives. 

This brief notice of the social and moral condition 
of the people, and of the superstitions and idolatries 
of the country, will enable us to form a more correct 
opinion than would otherwise be possible of the 
encouragements, as well as of the appalling, and, to 
us, invincible antagonism by which Christianity was 
confronted on its entrance into Madagascar. It will 
also show the combined and organized forces winch 
so fiercely disputed every step in its advance, and 
enable us more clearly to comprehend the marvellous 
victory which God, by the gospel, has achieved 
pmong the people, and which ranks among the most 
remarkable triumphs of Christianity in this our 
nineteenth century. 



36 



CHAPTEE II. 

Arrival of the first missionaries on the coast of Madagascar — Fear- 
ful ravages of illness and death — Renewal of the mission at the 
capital under the auspices of Radama — The English language 
taught in the first schools — Radama' s letter to the Missionary 
Society— Alarm of parents respecting their children — The 
native language reduced to writing — Arrival of missionary 
artisans— The native language taught in the schools— Com- 
mencement of public Christian worship on the Lord's day — 
Wide extension of education — Increasing attendance at the 
Sunday services— Singing introduced into Christian worship — 
Arrival of the first printing press — Review of the first ten 
years of the mission — Death of Radama — Assassination of his 
successor and friends — Ranavalona placed on the throne — 
The character and reign of Radama. 

Towards the close of the last century, the recog- 
nition of the duty of Christians to communicate the 
knowledge of Christ to the heathen nations, was 
revived by the divine Spirit in the religious com- 
munities of our own country, and attention was soon 
afterwards directed to Madagascar. 

In 1814 the Eev. J. Le Brun, born in Jersey, 
educated in the Missionary Seminary at Gosport, 
was sent to Mauritius with a view to commencing 
his labours in Madagascar or in Mauritius, as divine 
Providence might open his way. He remained in 
the latter island, and devoted a long, blameless, and 



FIRST MISSION TO MADAGASCAR. 37 

benevolent life to the education and spiritual welfare 
of the slave population, accompanied with a large 
and lasting measure of the divine blessing. In 
Mr. Le Brun a number of unhappy slaves from 
Madagascar found a kind and faithful friend, whose 
concern for the spiritual welfare of their countrymen 
terminated only with his life. Sir Eobert Farquhar, 
Governor of Mauritius, recommended the directors of 
the London Missionary Society to send missionaries 
to Madagascar, with assurances of all the encourage- 
ment he could give. 

Two years after the first intercourse of the English 
with the Hovas, the mission appointed by the 
society reached the shores of Madagascar with the 
word of God, the gospel of salvation, a peaceful 
means of moral and spiritual power and blessing, 
directed to a higher and nobler end than any ever 
before known among its inhabitants. 

Encouraged by an experimental visit to the coast 
of Madagascar in August, Messrs. Jones and Bevan 
proceeded soon afterwards with their wives and 
children to the port of Tamatave, and were wel- 
comed with joyous salutations by the chiefs and 
youths who had, during the former visit, been their 
scholars. 

But this attempt to settle among the people proved 
fearfully disastrous. The season was the most un- 
healthy of the year, clouds and rain darkened the 
heavens and deluged the earth, while a fatal malaria 
spread over the long-desired and seemingly inviting 
shore. Mrs. Jones and Mr. and Mrs. Bevan, with 



38 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

two children, landed in the country only to sicken, 
suffer, and die. It was in the hearts of these mis- 
sionaries to labour for the Malagasy, and thus to 
consecrate their lives to their divine Lord ; and the 
sacrifice was doubtless accepted, though to offer it 
was all that was allowed to them. 

Bereaved, afflicted, and alone, the surviving mis- 
sionary removed to Mauritius, devoting his attention, 
as returning health allowed, to preparation for resum- 
ing his appointed work. In the autumn of 1820 he 
embarked under favourable auspices, in company 
with the British agent, for Madagascar ; and, on 
reaching Tamatave, commenced the journey through 
the unhealthy part of the country before the destruc- 
tive fever had appeared. Early in October the tra- 
vellers reached An-tan-an-a-ri-vo, the capital, where, 
after marching through lines of English-trained 
soldiers, Mr. Hastie was publicly received in great 
state by the king, who cordially welcomed Mr. Jones, 
his missionary companion. The treaty for the abo- 
lition of the slave trade, which, though ratified by the 
English Government, had in the meantime been 
repudiated by the officer at Mauritius, required the 
king's earliest attention ; but by the judicious efforts 
of Mr. Hastie he was induced to re-enact the prohi- 
bition of the traffic, much to the satisfaction of the 
peaceable and respectable portions of the commu- 
nity. 

Badama had, in the meantime, been made ac- 
quainted with the more remarkable effects of the 
operations of the London Missionary Society in the 



COMMENCEMENT OF THE WORK. 39 

South Seas, and no sooner had the British flag "been 
hoisted at the palace to announce the ratification of 
the treaty, than the king sent a message to Mr. Jones 
encouraging him to remain in the capital, with a 
promise of countenance and protection for any other 
missionaries with their wives and families who might 
come to his aid. 

Before the end of the year, the missionary publicly 
commenced his great work of teaching. It was a 
truly small beginning, for he had only three scholars. 
Little did he think how soon the number would be 
multiplied by more than thousands. The small 
company increased daily, and a new school-house 
being soon required, the foundation of the building 
was publicly laid, and sprinkled with sacred water 
by the king himself, who gave this public testimony 
of his respect for the missionary as a means of pro- 
moting his usefulness among the people. 

In the course of the ensuing year the solitary 
labourer was cheered by the arrival of Mr. Griffiths, 
sent from England to his assistance ; and when after- 
wards the wives of the missionaries and an English 
child arrived, being the first ever seen at the capital, 
they awakened lively interest and curiosity, espe- 
cially amongst their own sex, and were treated with 
much kindness. 

The numbers and progress of the scholars in- 
creasing, a second school, with sixteen pupils, was 
opened by Mr. Griffiths, while the missionaries' wives 
commenced teaching the females needlework, and the 
makino- of articles of clothing for themselves. All 



40 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

that the missionaries were yet able to do was to 
impart to the children the mere elements of instruc- 
tion ; but the increase of their scholars encouraged 
them to persevere. 

A singular misunderstanding occurred before the 
end of the year. The missionaries arranged for a 
short holiday, on the occasion of their first Christmas 
at the capital, and gave the children permission to 
remain at home for a few days. So great, however, 
was the change which had taken place in the minds 
of the parents, many of whom had at first suspected 
ulterior motives on the part of the king and the mis- 
sionaries, in their endeavours to obtain pupils, that 
they now considered the teaching likely to prove 
advantageous to their children, and without seeking 
any explanation, they called a public meeting, and 
complained of the teachers withholding instruction 
from the children. The complaint was made known 
to the king, who sent to inquire why the teaching 
was interrupted, adding that if the children had not 
behaved well they should be corrected. Explanation 
satisfied the king, and the missionaries in due time 
resumed their instructions. 

When Mr. Hastie was about to return to Mau- 
ritius, Eadama announced that he intended to send 
twenty youths — ten to Mauritius, and ten to England 
— for education, and invited parents who were willing 
to send their children to bring them to him. A 
large number came ; and one chief was so eager to 
send his son that he offered to give three hundred 
dollars, a large sum in those days. When the king 



PRINCE RATEFY AS AMBASSADOR. 41 

heard of the offer, he asked what the chieftain was 
really willing to give. He replied that he would give 
at once half the sum he had mentioned. " Then," 
said Raclania, " as you are evidently in earnest, your 
son shall go free. I will pay his expenses." This pro- 
ceeding, highly characteristic of the king, reveals in 
part the secret of his great influence over the people, 
as does also the following occurrence, relating to the 
same event. 

One of the youths selected, afraid of the sea or 
fond of his home, although perfectly well on the 
previous day, declared he was sick, and unable to go ; 
on hearing of which the king ordered him to receive 
fifty lashes, and to be hung by the thumbs on a high 
pole in sight of all the people. The order was suffi- 
cient, and was one of the many evidences given by 
the king that he intended the conditions of the treaty 
to be strictly observed. 

After concluding the treaty, the king sent Prince 
Eatefy, the husband of his eldest sister, as ambas- 
sador to London in 1821. The youths selected to 
be educated in England accompanied him, and were 
placed under the care of the London Missionary 
Society, the English Government defraying the cost 
of their education. The prince was also the bearer 
of a letter to the directors of that society, requesting 
additional missionaries, and men to teach the people 
the useful arts of civilized life. In compliance 
with this request, Mr. Jeffreys and four artisans, 
competent to teach the people useful arts, were 
appointed to Madagascar, and sailed in the same 



42 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

ship with the prince and his attendants on their 
return. The king expressed his gratification at the 
arrival of the Englishmen, and a third school, under 
the care of Mr. Jeffreys, was commenced, with twelve 
pupils. 

Education was, however, still pursued under diffi- 
culties. The unfounded suspicion of some of the 
people, that the missionaries were not altogether dif- 
ferent from the white men who had formerly sought 
for slaves at the capital, was revived during the 
absence of the king, excited, it was said, by the return 
of Prince Eatefy without the children he had taken 
with him to England ; and a number of the parents 
not only refused to send their children to school, 
but, in order to prevent their being taken there, 
actually hid them in underground rice-pits, where 
several died from suffocation. The king's mother, in 
some respects a worthy mother of such a son, caused 
an order to be published in the market that any one 
raising false reports should be sold into slavery, and 
. that those who were guilty of suffocating their child- 
ren in the rice-holes should be put to death. This 
removed, for the time, objection to the attendance at 
the schools. 

The unreasoning fickleness and suspicion of the 
natives were among the slightest of the difficulties 
with which the missionaries had to contend. Unac- 
quainted with the language of the country, they 
commenced their noble work by teaching the child- 
ren English, and with such success that, at a public 
examination of the school in 1822, in presence of the 



THE MALAGASY LANGUAGE. 43 

king and his attendants, the first class in the school 
read in English the whole of the Vllth chapter of 
the Acts of the Apostles, translating parts into their 
own language.* But the teachers, necessarily dis- 
satisfied with the limited extent to which they could 
instruct the youth of the country in a foreign lan- 
guage, had been long engaged in providing the means 
of more rapidly teaching them through the medium 
of their own. That language was exclusively oral. 
It had never existed in a written form, and when 
commencing its acquisition, the missionaries had no 
predecessors whose philological investigations could 
assist them. No Malagasy alphabet, grammar, or 
vocabulary had ever been written. 

It is sometimes said that the best way to learn a 
language is to undertake to teach it. This generally 
implies the use of the aids above mentioned; but 
the missionaries had to attempt the treble task of 
learning, constructing, and teaching the language of 
the people at the same time. In prosecuting this 
work the letters of the English alphabet were used, 
so far as they were available, to express the sounds 
of the native tongue, the French sounds being given 
to the vowels, and the Arabic figures used to express 
the numbers. The orthography was simple, the 
Malagasy syllables consisting, for the most part, of 
consonant and vowel, or diphthong, and the words 
invariably ending with a vowel. 

For all the purposes of society in a corresponding 
state of civilization to that of Madagascar, the lan- 

* Mrs. Jeffreys' "Journal," p. 108. 



44 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

guage was sufficient and ample, often capable of ex- 
pressing the nicest shades of meaning with brevity 
and precision. The king, who was himself learning 
English from Mr. Hastie, and French from Mons. 
Eobin, his secretary, was much interested in the 
great work of giving to his own language a written 
form, and amused at the several changes in the ap- 
pearance of the words before the best mode of spelling 
them was determined, though perplexed sometimes 
by the different sounds attached to the same letter 
in the English language; in consequence of which 
he issued an order that in the Malagasy language no 
letter should have more than one sound. Notwith- 
standing the unremitted attention of the missionaries, 
it was two years after their arrival before they finally 
decided on the Malagasy alphabet, which has ever 
since remained unchanged by foreigners, or by the 
thousands of natives by whom it has since been 
used. 

Education had now become so popular that an 
adult school was, under the auspices of Eadama, 
opened in the palace yard, in which the officers of 
the army and their wives, to the number of about 
three hundred, were instructed by Mons. Eobin, the 
king's secretary. Besides daily teaching, the children 
attended at the school on Sunday for catechetical 
instruction and reading the Scriptures, and were 
also present on that day during the worship of the 
missionaries and artisans. Early in 1824, several of 
the best scholars were, with the king's consent, em- 
ployed in teaching schools in the adjacent villages ; 






PUBLIC WORSHIP INTRODUCED. 45 

and these were so successful, that, in order to make 
teaching more effectual by training native masters, 
the king proposed that three separate schools should 
be united in one central model and training insti- 
tution, under the instruction of Messrs. Jones and 
Griffiths, in a large building adjoining the residence 
of the latter, and that the wives of the missionaries 
should continue to teach the females. 

The native language was used in the school, and 
only forty of the most advanced scholars continued 
the study of English, in which some of them attained 
a degree of proficiency which enabled them not only 
to read English books, but to translate several small 
publications into their own language, which were 
afterwards printed and used by the scholars. 

Public worship in the native language was now 
held every Lord's day in the large school building, 
and adult natives were invited to attend, but very few 
accepted the invitation. The spirits of the devoted 
servants of Christ were often stirred within them as 
they listened to the conversation of the people, or 
passed by the recently anointed pagan altar at which 
sacrifices had been offered, or mingled with the mul- 
titudes wholly given to idolatry ; and yearning over 
their delusion and danger, the missionaries spoke to 
them, as opportunity offered, of the living and the 
true God. Eew appeared to be in the slightest 
degree interested in their statements. Some were 
offended at the implied disparagement of their idols ; 
and others appeared to be afraid of the displeasure 
of both priests and idols, or of the malignant spirits 



46 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

whom discussion on these subjects might provoke. 
The priests generally avoided the missionaries, and 
it was pretended that their presence in the capital 
was offensive to the idols. 

At the same time the increasing number of scholars 
cheered their teachers. There were two thousand 
under instruction, and the growing interest which 
some began to manifest in relation to the claims of 
the idols, and the teaching of the New Testament 
respecting the only Saviour of men, inspired hopes 
that from among them the firstfruits of Madagascar 
might be gathered unto Christ. 

The Malagasy children, many of them quick, 
attentive, and earnest, accustomed to all kinds of 
conversation, and freely to express their opinions on 
every subject, often manifested a precocious intelli- 
gence and strength of opinion unknown at so early 
an age in more advanced communities. On such 
minds the new and wondrous revelations of the 
Bible could not but make a deep impression, even 
before they might perceive the issues to which these 
revelations would lead. They began to think lightly 
of the idols and their worship, to speak disparagingly 
of them amongst themselves and in their families, 
and hesitated not to treat without reverence the 
altars of the Vazimba, or the curious and beautiful 
trees considered sacred which were often planted 
around their graves. 

One of the native teachers in a village school was 
struck to the ground by a savage chieftain for speak- 
ing to the children disparagingly of the idol of the 



INFLUENCE OF KADAMA'S EXAMPLE. 47 

place. Some of the parents expostulated, and 
entreated their children not to speak against the 
idols; but still the children answered that if to 
please their parents they should say they believed 
in the idols, it would be a lie, and they could not 
do it; they had been taught to speak the truth. 
The behaviour of the children was reported to the 
king, but he dismissed the complainants, telling 
them to mind their work and leave the children to 
mind their lessons. 

Eadama himself had recently shown that the 
decisions of the sikidy were but slightly regarded 
by him when they opposed his own will. He had a 
short time before returned with his army from a 
campaign, and, on approaching the capital, learned 
that the diviners had declared that he must halt 
outside for a number of days; but, determined to 
show them that he would enter the capital when he 
pleased, he marched straight to his palace, without 
halting in the suburbs as the diviners had directed. 
This public act on a great occasion was but one of 
many in which Eadama had shown that, however 
frequently he might, for state purposes, follow the 
pretended directions of the idols, he was at least 
sceptical as to their existence or power, and his 
conduct could not fail to affect very powerfully the 
minds of his more intimate companions, as well as 
others. 

Shortly afterwards, when the people of a so-called 
sacred village applied to the king for a piece of 
scarlet cloth for their idol, he replied, "Surely he 



48 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

must be very poor if he cannot obtain a piece of 
cloth for himself. If he be a god he can provide his 
own garments/' 

The missionaries, who, since the opening of schools 
in the villages, had divided their Sunday labour 
between preaching in the large building in the 
capital, and visiting the schools for the purpose of 
addressing the children, were encouraged both by 
the progress in the schools and the attendance at the 
chapel, where the congregation at times exceeded a 
thousand persons, the queen and one of the king's 
sisters being frequently present. 

The Malagasy are passionately fond of music. The 
children, early taught to sing, were now often heard 
in the streets of the city, as well as at home, singing 
the hymns they had been taught in the school. The 
king not unfrequently went to the school to hear 
them sing, reading to them the first line of the hymn. 
While the progress of the children greatly encouraged 
the teachers, it taxed their energies to provide lessons 
and books that should nourish and extend their grow- 
ing intelligence. Their teachers were especially anxious 
to impart to them the elements of religious truth ; 
and as their own progress in acquiring the language 
increased, the missionaries translated detached por- 
tions of the sacred Scriptures, which were then read 
in the schools, and used in the sabbath day services 
by the missionaries and their pupils. 

The king, who had been absent with his army, 
returned at the close of 1824, and having heard 
repeated complaints of the rapid increase of the 



WANT OF BOOKS. 49 

scholars, and of the offence which the teaching of 
the religion of the foreigners had given to some of 
the people, sent officially to the missionaries to say 
that they were going too fast ; that the people would 
not hear of any God but their own, nor of any 
religion except that of their forefathers ; and he re- 
quested that the schools might advance more slowly, 
or he should not deem his kingdom safe. This 
expression of the king's views, and his having pro- 
hibited the collecting of the children for public 
worship, produced considerable fluctuation in the 
attendance of the scholars for a time. But the 
missionaries commenced a prayer meeting in the 
native language, which a number of the scholars 
readily attended, and several united, with much 
simplicity and earnestness, in praying to the true 
God for the blessing of the Most High on themselves 
and their countrymen. These valuable services were 
afterwards extended to the village schools, where 
several of the teachers presided with great propriety. 
One great difficulty in teaching had been the want 
of books. All the Malagasy lessons hitherto attain- 
able had been manuscript copies of those prepared 
by the missionaries, and transcribed by the advanced 
scholars ; yet, notwithstanding the willing industry 
of the best writers, the supply had always been in- 
adequate. Most gladly, therefore, did the mission- 
aries, in 1826, welcome the arrival of a printing press, 
the first ever seen in Madagascar, which promised 
an easy and adequate supply of books. The king, 
gratified by the establishment of the press in his 



50 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

dominions, not only directed the missionaries to 
select six youths to work permanently as printers, 
but encouraged the people again to send their child- 
ren to the existing schools, and authorized the open- 
ing of others. With devout gratitude to God, the 
missionaries also welcomed the renewed attendance 
of the children at the public services on the Lord's 
day. 

Death had repeatedly diminished the feeble band 
of devoted labourers, but others had arrived to occupy 
the vacant post. Mr. Johns, accompanied by Messrs. 
Cameron and Cumming, followed by Mr. Freeman 
and Mr. Canham, had arrived to strengthen the 
mission before the close of the ensuing year. 

All the brethren who were engaged in teaching 
useful arts to the people united heartily with those 
appointed to preach the gospel, attending the prayer 
meetings, imparting religious instruction on the 
Sunday, and earnestly endeavouring to diffuse the 
knowledge of the Eedeemer among all classes. 

Eadama was often absent from the capital in the 
fearfully destructive wars which followed his first 
victories, and the officer left in charge as governor 
of the capital during his absence, appeared to rejoice 
with the missionaries in the progress of their great 
work. The public examination of the schools in 
February, 1828, was the most gratifying ever held. 
The one small school in the missionary's room, com- 
menced in the end of 1820 with three scholars, had, 
in less than eight years, increased to thirty-two, in 
which four thousand youths and children were 



SPREAD OF KNOWLEDGE. 51 

receiving Christian instruction. The temporary 
governor of the capital ordered a kabary on the 
day on which the report of the schools was read. 
He was present on the occasion, and in addressing 
the parents of the children, and the head men of the 
districts, in the king's name, reminded them of their 
obligations to the white men, several of whom, he 
added, had died in working for them and their 
children, and whose bones now rested in adjacent 
grave* far from the land of their fathers. Urging 
all to more diligent attention to instruction, he closed 
by directing that those who had completed their 
period of instruction should still attend the services 
on Sunday, and the monthly examinations. 

The existing and prospective value of these schools, 
together with the worship of the true God associated 
with the teaching, was greatly enhanced by their 
being extended over the several districts of Ankova. 
Still more important was the fact that there were 
large numbers of educated persons amongst the 
general population; and that, taught by these, 
numbers of young and adult persons, relatives or 
companions of those who taught them, had learned 
reading, writing, and arithmetic without ever enter- 
ing any school The extent of education, and the 
value attached to it, had never before been equalled. 

Although the printer sent out by the Missionary 
Society was seized on the journey with fever, and 
died within a month after reaching the capital, the 
missionaries, assisted by Mr. Cameron, set up the 
press and printed lessons and school books. On the 






52 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 



first of January, 1828, they sanctified the day by 
putting to press the first sheet of the Gospel of 
Luke, wishing, as they expressed it, " thus to hallow 
the new year of our missionary labours by this 
service, in opening the fountain of living waters in 
the midst of this parched ground, and," as they add, 
" with prayer that the healing streams may transform 
the wilderness into the garden of the Lord." Besides 
the rapid extension of education, the missionaries 
reported that their chapel was well attended thrice 
on the Lord's day. 

No native of Madagascar had yet avowed faith in 
Jesus Christ, or desired publicly to declare his 
discipleship by receiving baptism. The intelligence, 
earnestness, and devout feeling on religious subjects 
manifested by some, inspired the hope that they 
were not far from the kingdom of God ; and as the 
sovereign's approval was required before any one 
could thus unite with the Christians, Mr. Jones 
explained the subject to the king, endeavouring to 
ascertain his views. Soon afterwards, at an examina- 
tion of the schools, Eadama, though unable to attend, 
sent an official message, urging those whose time in 
the school had expired to seek further instruction, and 
to continue to attend public worship on the Sunday ; 
adding, that if any persons wished to be baptized or 
married, they were at liberty to act according to their 
own judgment. 

In order to extend the knowledge of the youths 
who had left school, as well as that of the more 
advanced scholars, a course of lectures was delivered 



EARLY RESULTS. 53 

to a numerous attendance. The first was on the 
being and perfections of God. Many of the youths 
wrote down the leading ideas presented, and others 
proved the retentiveness of their memories by their 
correct recitals of the great truths of revelation thus 
exhibited before them, and impressed on the heart 
and conscience. 

Such were some of the results of the first ten years 
of the Christian mission in Madagascar. The time 
was brief, but its achievements lasting. Christianity 
had been presented in the simplest form to minds in 
the most unsophisticated state. It had been taught 
to the young. Its effects had been experimental 
and preparatory. So far as its highest object, the 
conversion of the soul was concerned, it had been 
barren of results ; but as illustrating the harmony 
of divine providence with the purposes of divine 
mercy, it had been most conclusive. The light of 
divine truth had pierced a state of society enveloped 
in an atmosphere of moral darkness, intensified and 
polluted by monstrous forms of depravity and crime, 
as well as agitated and confused by witchcrafts, sor- 
ceries, divinations, and abominable idolatries. 

The first pure, clear light of Christianity, faint, it 
might have been, as the dawn of the morning, had 
touched and enkindled in the minds of some a loath- 
ing of the vileness and falsehood of the native priest- 
craft, and a yearning after something more sure and 
true than the pretended responses of a billet of wood, 
or than the brainless vagaries and cruelties of astro- 
logy and divination. Truth, though as yet only a 



54 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

narrow point might have penetrated their minds, 
was too bright and clear to be extinguished by any 
agency that idolatry could employ, and too strong to 
be resisted. It had opened to itself an avenue to 
thousands of young and expanding minds. Its own 
inherent vitality and its divine origin constituted 
its protection against coming assaults or conflicts, 
and afforded guarantees for future victory. It was 
now approaching a new, a severer, and more pro- 
tracted ordeal, in which, with greater suffering, it 
should achieve triumphs more transcendently glo- 
rious. 

The constitution of Eadama had never been ro- 
bust, though vigorous, and it had been injured by 
the fatigue and exposure of camp life in unfavour- 
able regions, as well as by attacks of fever ; but more 
especially by intemperance, irregularity of life, and 
indulgences destructive to health. He was ill for 
many months during the last year of his life, seldom 
being able to attend to public business. He was 
seen only by his officers, latterly only by two inti- 
mate friends and his attendants ; and he died on the 
27th of June, 1828, at the early age of thirty-six 
years. The officers acquainted with the fact were 
unprepared for prompt action, and his death was 
kept secret. He was every morning reported to be 
better, and the band played every afternoon in the 
palace yard, as usual, to prevent all suspicion. This 
delay in mustering his friends and proclaiming his 
successor was their ruin. 

In the meantime, a young officer attendant on 



radama's successoe. 55 

Badama's friends informed Ba-na-va-lo-na, one of 
his wives, of his decease. She sent secretly for two 
officers, her own partisans, and proposed to give 
them the highest offices in the army, and great 
rewards, if they would place her on the throne. The 
parties all knew that this could only be accom- 
plished by the instant and copious shedding of blood 
considered most sacred ; for Eadama, having no son 
living, had nominated Prince Bakotobe * the eldest 
son of his own sister and of her husband Prince 
Eatefy, to be his successor. The young prince, then 
in his eighteenth year, was popular, and the nation 
regarded him with affection and hope as their future 
sovereign. 

The two officers to whom the proposal had been 
made agreed to attempt, at whatever cost of life, to 
secure the throne for the queen. They gained over 
to their purpose some of the priests and the judges, 
and then collected the troops in the capital under 
their command. Two days after the death of the 
king, a kabary was held for administering beforehand 
the oath of fidelity to whomsoever the king might 
be pleased to appoint to be his successor in the 
government. In the meantime, the young prince 
whom the king had designated heir to the throne 
was seized at night, hurried away to an adjacent 

* This young prince was the first scholar sent to the first 
school, in 1820. He continued the friend, and occasionally the 
pupil, of the missionaries till his death ; and they had reason to 
believe that his mind had been enlightened by the teaching of 
the Scripture, and brought under the influence of the love and 
faith which saves the soul. 



56 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

village, and removed afterwards to a greater distance, 
where, by the side of a newly made grave, after 
granting his request for a few minutes to commend 
his spirit to God in prayer, they thrust their spears 
through his body, covered up his corpse in the grave, 
and returned to the capital. 

The two divisions of the troops under the com- 
mand of the officers engaged by the queen were led 
into the courtyard of the palace, where the officers, 
judges, priests or idol-keepers, and others, assembled 
on the morning of the 1st of August. To all these 
it was announced that the idols had named Eana- 
valona as successor to Eadama, and their allegiance 
was claimed. Four officers of the late king's body- 
guard replied that Eadama had named Eakotobe and 
Eaketaka, Eadama's own daughter, as his successors. 
They had scarcely spoken before the spears of the 
soldiers around laid them dying on the ground. 
This act appeared to decide the question ; and amidst 
the roar of cannon and the shouts within the palace 
yard Eanavalona was proclaimed queen. 

An immense concourse of people were assembled 
in the capital on the 3rd of August, when it was 
officially announced that Eadama had " retired ;" that, 
according to the appointment of his father, Eana- 
valona was to be his successor, to whom all were 
required to take the oath of allegiance. Another and 
superior building was added to the line of the tombs 
of former kings in the palace yard ; and on the 13th 
of August the remains of the late sovereign were 
deposited in their last resting-place, after which the 



BENEFITS OF RADAMA's REIGN. 57 

strangers from the provinces returned to their several 
homes. 

Considering the early age at which Eadama was 
called to the throne, his reign, though short, had 
been rich in benefits to his country. His abolition 
of the slave trade, which saved his people from inse- 
curity, plunder, and hopeless captivity, had closed 
one of the great slave markets of the world; the 
relations of friendship into which he entered with 
England, and the opening his ports to the commerce 
of civilized nations, inaugurated a new era in the 
history of Madagascar. The extension of the supre- 
macy of the Hovas over a large portion of the country, 
though attended with fearful misery and destruction 
of life, may possibly issue hereafter in a united and 
prosperous people, under an enlightened and humane 
government. The introduction of letters, and a 
written language, together with the extension of 
education, and the employment of the printing-press, 
were benefits, the worth and influence of which are 
only beginning to be perceived. 

Eadama's abolition of the destruction of children 
born on unlucky days, and his frequent exposure of 
the craft and covetousness of the priests, as well as 
the jugglery of the diviners, saved the lives of multi- 
tudes of infants, and weakened the power of super- 
stition among the more intelligent of the people. 
But, greatest of all, the introduction, during his reign, 
of Christianity into his country, his protection of its 
ministers, though personally resisting its claims, and 
refusing all teaching but that of his own heart; 



58 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

though barren of spiritual good to himself, has proved 
a lasting and incalculable blessing to his countrymen. 
He had been raised up by the Supreme Euler of the 
world at a peculiar period of his country's progress 
to introduce great changes, and to prepare the way 
for others greater still. His work was done, and he 
retired. His place was occupied by others who were 
to direct and urge the nation along the dark, impious, 
and fearfully retrograde course on which they were 
entering. 



59 



CHAPTEE III. 

Destruction of Radama's family — Drafting of scholars into the 
army — Appeal of the queen to the idols at her coronation — 
The New Testament and other books printed — Attention of 
the people to religious teaching — Baptism and partaking of 
the Lord's Supper by the first converts — Disapproval of Chris- 
tian fellowship by the government — Formation of the first 
churches of Madagascar — Officers, soldiers, and scholars in the 
government schools forbidden to receive baptism or unite 
with the church — Christian officer accused of witchcraft, and 
subjected to drink the ordeal of poison — Masters forbidden 
to allow their slaves to read — Conversion and death of a 
young slave — Refusal of Christian soldiers to acknowledge the 
idols — 30,000 readers, the result of ten years' educational 
labour — Idols rejected — Description of a Malagasy idol — Evi- 
dences of the power of the gospel among the people — Effi- 
ciency of native agency — Disastrous end of a teacher of a new 
religion. 

After the royal funeral, a season of national mourn- 
ing was appointed. The ordinary occupations of life 
ceased, every amusement was forbidden, all classes 
were required to divest themselves of their orna- 
ments, men, women, and children, throughout the 
land were ordered to make bald their heads, and 
clothe themselves in rags and sackcloth. The men, 
except those employed in the rice-fields, sat or slept 
away the weary days. The women, bald-headed and 
wailing, went, by order of the Government, to the 



60 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

place of the tomb of the departed to weep every day, 
some with unaffected grief for the dead, most of them 
from terror of the living. 

But although teaching and learning, being classed 
by the government with amusements, were forbidden, 
and, with the exception of attention to the rice crops, 
idleness was enforced on the people, the government, 
released from public business, seized this season of 
general inactivity to strengthen their position, and 
arrange their plans for the reaction which they had 
united to create. Notwithstanding the booming of 
the artillery, the shouting of the troops, and the 
sworn oath of thousands, the occupant of the throne, 
to which a passage had been opened by the murder 
of its rightful heir, felt no safety in that elevated 
position so long as a single male member of the 
family of the late king remained alive, and only one 
female member of the family had been allowed to 
live. 

One of Eadama's cousins escaped to the Comoro 
Islands. The noble and high-spirited mother of the 
king was sent to an unhealthy part of the country, 
where she suffered a lingering and agonizing death 
from starvation in prison. Eadama's eldest sister, 
and her husband Prince Eatefy, her brother's ambas- 
sador to England, both died by the hand of the 
executioner, the wife and mother in a manner fiend- 
ishly barbarous. The king's brothers and his uncle 
were starved to death in prison, and suffered such 
agony, that when no longer able to speak, they some- 
times, by look and gestures, most affectingly but 



CLOUDED PROSPECTS. 61 

vainly implored their guards to put them to death * 
Eadama's early companions, faithful and trusted 
generals, or governors of provinces, were shot. Their 
only crime was having been true to their sovereign. 
Such a commencement of the new reign augured ill 
for Madagascar. It filled the minds of the people 
with dismay, while it darkened the prospects of the 
missionaries and their friends. 

Forbidden to teach or preach, the missionaries 
engaged earnestly in the preparation of elementary 
and other books, and especially in translating the 
New Testament, a work already commenced. In 
the meantime Mr. Baker, an intelligent missionary 
printer, having arrived, application was made for 
such a number of youths to assist in printing, and 
also in transcribing, as Eadama had granted to aid 
the missionaries in the work. The government 
having decided that transcribing and printing were 
neither learning nor teaching, the aid was given, and 
a large supply of books provided. 

After a cessation of six months, the government 
ordered a limited number of schools to be opened in 
villages in which no idol was kept ; but the teaching 
in these newly opened schools had scarcely com- 
menced, when seven hundred of the teachers and 
senior scholars were drawn for the army. This pro- 
ceeding confirmed the suspicions of many of the 

* One reason assigned for the infliction of this cruel death was 
an unwillingness to shed royal blood, which was considered sacred; 
hence members of the reigning family were put to death by some 
process by which the shedding of their blood might be avoided. 



62 THE MAETYE CHUECH. 

parents as to the purpose for which the government 
collected the children in the schools, and so increased 
their disinclination to send them, that the numbers 
in attendance were one-half less than in former 
years. The next public act of the government was 
to discontinue the treaty with England, and inform 
the British agent appointed after the death of Mr. 
Hastie, that the queen did not feel herself bound by 
the treaty with Badama, and could not receive him 
as the agent of the British government ; that she 
declined receiving the equivalent for loss in giving 
up the slave trade, but did not intend to revive the 
traffic. The presence of the British agent had been 
a restraint from which they wished, in future, to be 
free. 

At the coronation of the queen on the 12th of 
June, 1829, in the presence of many thousands of 
people, after standing on the sacred stone, and having 
been declared by the representatives of the army to 
be sacred as their sovereign, Eanavalona took two of 
the idols in her hand, and thus addressed them: — " I 
have received you from my ancestors. I put my 
trust in you; therefore support me." The queen 
then returned the idols, which were covered with 
long pieces of gold-embroidered scarlet cloth, to their 
respective keepers, by whom they were held at the 
front corners of the platform on which the throne 
was placed, inspiring with superstitious awe the 
assembled multitudes. In her coronation speech to 
the people the queen declared that Eadama had 
received the crown on condition that she should be 



ATTEMPT TO REVIVE IDOLATRY. 63 

his successor, and that she did not change, but 
would add to what Eadama had done. Many who 
heard this speech, and remembered by what means 
she reached the throne, must have felt that truth 
received but little regard from the queen in her 
words to gods or men. 

In the month of October of the same year, a fleet 
of six French ships entered the harbour of Tamatave, 
and opened fire on the battery, from which the Hova 
forces retired to Ivondro, whence they were driven, 
and the French moved on to the next northern port, 
where the resistance they met with obliged them to 
proceed to the Isle of St. Mary, still further north. 
An embassy was sent from the capital, and by enter- 
ing into negotiations, the French were kept on the 
coast until the fever made such ravages amongst them 
that before the close of the year they sailed finally 
from the island. 

Alarmed by the attack of the French, and appre- 
hending its renewal in greater force, active military 
preparations for defence were urged forward, public 
homage and offerings were at the same time presented 
to the idols, and great efforts were made to revive 
the confidence of the people in the superstitions of 
the country. The movements of the government 
were directed by the pretended orders of divination, 
and the iniquitous ordeal by poison was restored in 
all its force. According to the direction of the 
diviners, the queen proceeded to the sacred city of 
Ambohimanga, the abode of one of the idols to 
which she had appealed at her coronation, carry- 



64 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

ing with her a large number of her jewels and other 
valuables, which she offered to Eafantaka, one of 
the idols of the reigning family. A number of civil and 
military officers were required to drink the poison at 
the capital, and a general purification of the country 
from any concealed crimes by which it might be 
polluted was ordered to be made ; and by this mur- 
derous ordeal many hundreds of innocent Malagasy 
were sacrificed. 

The attitude of the French, and the practical 
value of the efforts of the European artisans, 
probably suggesting the desirableness of the good- 
will of the English, the authorities were induced 
to show a slight degree of favour towards the 
missionaries. Mr. Cameron, who was engaged in 
the construction of machinery and other works, 
had six hundred youths constantly under his 
charge, and devoted much attention to their spiritual 
welfare. A small addition was made to the number 
of the schools, while the missionaries were allowed 
full liberty to teach and preach, as well as to carry 
forward their great work of translating and printing 
the Scriptures, and preparing Christian books. In 
1830, besides large numbers of other books, they 
completed the printing of five thousand copies of the 
New Testament, besides two thousand single Gospels. 
Well might the devoted missionaries rejoice in the 
completion of these works. This was the good seed 
which should be sown far and wide into many hearts, 
as into a virgin soil, for entrance into which they had 
by education prepared the way ; and where, under 



SIGNS OF SUCCESS. 65 

the vivifying influence of the Holy Spirit, it should 
germinate, and bring forth fruits of holiness which 
should be unto everlasting life. 

The portions of the Scriptures now provided were 
read by numbers in Imerina, and the distant pro- 
vinces, where many who had been pupils of the mis- 
sionaries now resided. These were not the only 
signs that God was working with His servants. 
" Conversation on the subject of religion," writes Mr. 
Baker, "is frequent among the natives, and the 
preached gospel reaches with impressive force the 
consciences of some. We have under our superin- 
tendence two thousand five hundred children, and 
with this charge it behoves us to feel our responsi- 
bility, — ' Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do 
it with thy might/ " The existing place of worship 
became too small, and a second and larger chapel 
was erected at Am-ba-to-na-kan-ga (Guinea-fowl 
rocks) in the northern suburbs, not far from the 
government workshops. A suitable room was also 
engaged in a central part of the capital, where Eng- 
lish and native preachers proclaimed the gospel to 
the people. 

In the meantime a number of the natives, intel- 
ligent and earnest seekers after truth, had for 
some time received special attention and teaching 
from the missionaries, who rejoiced in the evidence 
which a number of them gave that they understood 
the nature and extent of the claims of the gospel, 
and had experienced its transforming power in their 
own hearts. Permission was given by the queen to 

F 



66 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

all her people who wished it, to be baptized, to com- 
memorate the death of Christ, or to enter into mar- 
riage engagements according to the custom of the 
Europeans. The families of the missionaries, and 
the lay brethren associated with them, had already 
been united in Christian fellowship, and on the 2 ( Jth 
of May, 1831, the first Sabbath after the queen's 
permission had been received, twenty of the first con- 
verts to Christ in Madagascar were baptized at Am- 
bo-din-an-do-ha-lo (the lower part of the place of 
public assemblies) ; and on the following Sabbath, 
eight individuals, by receiving the same ordinance, 
at Ambatonakanga, publicly renounced paganism, 
and avowed themselves disciples of the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and at both places united in partaking of 
the Lord's Supper. 

Two of the converts were husband and wife. The 
former had been celebrated among the heathen, but 
both were to become distinguished among the Chris- 
tians. The man, now past the meridian of life, had 
possessed great influence among his countrymen as 
a diviner, and. supposed revealer of destiny, and had 
been enriched by his art. A young friend had 
spoken to him on the falsehood and sinfulness of 
divination, persuading him to make himself ac- 
quainted with the true inspiration which God had 
given unto men, and urging him to visit the mis- 
sionaries. The new and divine doctrines which 
they taught filled his mind with wonder and 
reverence ; and there is reason to believe the divine 
Spirit impressed the truth deeply on his heart. 



A convert's profession of faith. 67 

Shortly afterwards lie publicly destroyed his em- 
blems of superstition and instruments of divination, 
with the exception of two, which, as proofs of his 
sincerity, he delivered to the missionaries. He then 
took his place among the scholars, commencing with 
the alphabet ; and urged by motives, as delightful as 
they were strong, he continued without intermission 
as a scholar until he could read with correctness that 
Word which makes wise unto salvation. His wife 
seemed to have experienced the same divine change, 
and after twelve months of bkmeless Christian life 
the missionaries rejoiced to receive them amongst the 
first publicly admitted to the fold of Christ in Mada- 
gascar. At his baptism he received the name of 
Paul, of whom he had read so much in the New 
Testament, and he was frequently designated, in re- 
ference to his former life, " Paul the diviner." 

The statement of motives contained in a letter of 
another of these early Christians to the missionary, 
shows how clearly he comprehended the require- 
ments of a disciple of Christ. " I desire," he writes, 
when applying for baptism, " to devote myself, both 
soul and body, to Jesus, that I may serve Him in all 
things according to His will ; and I pray God in thus 
giving myself to Jesus to assist me by His Holy 
Spirit, that I may love Jesus with all my heart, my 
spirit, and my strength — that I may serve Jesus 
even until I die." 

The example of these baptisms stimulated inquiry 
among others, and much of the time of the mission- 
aries was passed in the welcome and soul-gladdening 



68 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

employment of directing the inquiring minds of 
those who sought to take upon themselves the 
name of the Lord Jesus. Forty or fifty individuals, 
including some persons of rank, occupying respon- 
sible situations under government, usually attended 
these meetings of the converts with the missionaries. 
The public forsaking of the idols brought some an- 
noyance and reproach upon the Christians, chiefly 
from their relatives, but this was cheerfully borne ; 
and, compelled by the ardour of their love to the 
Eedeemer, and their concern for the souls of others, 
they were accustomed to hold meetings in their 
own dwellings, for reading the Scriptures, conver- 
sation, singing, and prayer. By the divine blessing 
on these and other means, the members of the 
churches had been largely increased. 

Some who, as already stated, held office under 
the government, and others who were allied to the 
reigning family, had desired publicly to declare their 
faith in Christ ; but learning that such a step would 
be disapproved by the sovereign, they did not deem 
it safe to present themselves for baptism. A law 
existed, though not often enforced, prohibiting the 
use of wine in Imerina, and after the first admin- 
istration of the Lord's Supper, a message was received 
from the queen, stating that it was contrary to law 
for any native to drink wine, after which water alone 
was used in this commemoration. The members of 
the government who were opposed to Christianity, 
having heard that several persons belonging to the 
army, and pupils in the schools, were receiving in- 



FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 69 

structioii previous to being baptized, orders were 
sent by the officers of the army forbidding the sol- 
diers and the pupils in the schools to receive bap- 
tism, and also forbidding those who had been ad- 
mitted to Christian communion to unite again in 
that ordinance. The soldiers were silent spectators 
when the ordinance was next celebrated, — viz., on 
the first Sunday in November, 1831, and after that 
time no one in the army or a pupil in the govern- 
ment schools was allowed to be baptized, or to unite 
in the communion of the church. 

Although after the first baptism, those who had 
thus avowed their renunciation of heathenism and 
adherence to Christ, were received to the Lord's Sup- 
per, no church was formed until August in the same 
year, when a Christian brotherhood was organized 
among the worshippers at Ambodinandohalo, and 
shortly after at Ambatonakanga. The members on 
these occasions gave and received the right hand of 
fellowship, and agreed to a simple declaration of 
faith and order, including the chief evangelical doc- 
trines, and, declaring the word of Christ to be the 
law of the church, securing to the people the admis- 
sion to and exclusion from their fellowship. It was 
further stated to be the duty of every communicant 
to seek the edification of the church, and the exten- 
sion of the gospel amongst their countrymen. Be- 
lieving themselves that the word of God was the 
only true and safe ground of Christian faith and rule 
of Christian life, the missionaries were chiefly con- 
cerned that their converts should comprehend clearly 



70 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

this great foundation truth, and were content to 
leave minor questions to be determined by that rule 
as they might arise. Thus, by the loving care of the 
divine Eedeemer, and with fervent prayer, as well as 
with trembling hearts, when they looked at surround- 
ing darkness and at the immediate future, but in 
firm and joyous faith, the foundations of the Martyr 
Church of Madagascar were laid, thirteen years after 
the messengers of Christ had landed on the shores of 
that country, and eleven years after the commence- 
ment of their labours in the capital. 

In the following year the schools, by order of the 
government, were collected at the capital for public 
examination, after which the proficiency of the 
scholars was commended in an official message from 
the queen, which also directed them to continue 
attending the teaching of the missionaries. About 
the same time an assemblage of the people was con- 
vened, on the completion of a canal cut under the 
direction of the missionary artisans, for bringing 
the waters of the river Ikiopo into a lake at the 
north of the capital, which had been converted into 
a reservoir for the government mills erected under 
the superintendence of Mr. Cameron. On this occa- 
sion a message was also delivered from the queen, 
expressing her Majesty's sense of the great value of 
the mission to the nation. These repeated testimonies 
in their favour, occurring at the time when the efforts 
of the missionaries for the spiritual benefit of the 
people were so encouraging, inspired a hope that the 
Most High might be influencing the rulers of the land 



DISCOURAGEMENTS. 71 

to afford additional facilities for the prosecution of 
their great work. But all such hopes were fallacious, 
and only like gleams of sunshine which sometimes 
momentarily break through openings in the darken- 
ing clouds which precede the gathering storm. 

The missionaries soon learned that the increase of 
the Christians was offensive to the government; that 
the endeavours of one devoted Christian to bring 
others to the knowledge of Christ had, notwith- 
standing his rank and influence, caused his impeach- 
ment on the charge of witchcraft, in consequence of 
which he had been ordered to drink the tangena; 
through which ordeal of death God had mercifully 
preserved him, to the great joy of the Christians. 
The missionaries found also that their educational 
efforts were only valued as they served to supply 
better qualified officers for the army, in which any 
Christian tendencies rendered their possessor liable to 
suspicion, and proved a barrier to his promotion. 
The prohibition to unite in the commemoration of 
the Lord's Supper, originally enforced against the 
government pupils in the schools and the soldiers, 
was now extended to the whole native population. 
Those already admitted to the church were not 
allowed to unite in the communion, and all others 
were forbidden to join their fellowship. 

Another edict of the government, scarcely less dis- 
couraging to the Christians, was issued shortly after 
the examination of the schools. By this, every master 
was forbidden to allow a slave to read, on pain of 
forfeiting such slave and being himself reduced to 



72 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

slavery. Every slave was at the same time forbidden 
to learn to read and write under the heaviest penal- 
ties. The blessed influence of Christianity had 
already been the means of bestowing that spiritual 
liberty wherewith Christ makes free on some who 
were in bonds to their fellow-men. Among these 
one remarkable instance was conspicuous. A slave 
boy had learned to read while attending his young 
master to the school. The reading of the Scriptures 
had been the means of his becoming a sincere and 
humble believer in Christ, in whom he had publicly 
avowed his faith by receiving baptism in the close of 
1831. He had seen in the missionary printing office 
the tract " The Poor Negro," with a frontispiece re- 
presenting the negro in the attitude of prayer ; and 
wishing to cultivate the disposition to pray, he gave, 
when baptized, his adopted name, Ka-Poor-Negro, 
as that by which he wished to be known. He con- 
tinued to increase in knowledge of the Scriptures, in 
enjoyment of the gospel, and in usefulness amongst 
his own class, which form a large portion of the 
population of Madagascar. His death, which occurred 
a short time afterwards, was to all around him as 
remarkable as the change in his life had been. 
No one who has not stood by the bedsides of the 
dying heathen can form any adequate idea of the 
darkness, sorrow, and dismay which often attend 
their last hours. The Malagasy fever seized this 
Christian slave, and quietly terminated his life ; but 
his most frequent expressions were, " I am going to 
Jehovah-Jesus, Jesus is fetching me. I do not 



CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS. 73 

fear." These words, " I do not fear," were the last 
he uttered in this world* 

The inhabitants of the conquered provinces had 
shown no attachment to the present occupant of the 
throne, or to the existing government ; and rumours 
of hostile intentions against the Hovas were, without 
adequate, or even any foundation, frequently circu- 
lated in the capital. Large bodies of troops were 
also repeatedly sent, avowedly to reduce the dis- 
affected to obedience, but most frequently to prevent 
future trouble by destroying those who might become 
enemies, and enriching the invaders with the spoils 
of their country. These troops were to a large extent 
officered by young men who had been pupils of the 
missionaries ; and not a few in the ranks, as well as 
among the officers, and large numbers of slaves, and 
other camp followers who attended the fighting men, 
were Christians, and carried with them their books, 
especially their New Testaments. 

The chief commander of one of these expeditions 
was a zealous votary of the idols, and before the army 
left the capital he ordered one of the national idols 
to be borne aloft through the lines, followed by the 
priests bearing vessels filled with consecrated water, 
which, in the presence of thousands of spectators, they 
sprinkled on the soldiers as a means of security and 
success. 

In this army were a number of Christians who, 

* An interesting narrative of Ra- Poor-Negro was afterwards 
prepared by Mr. Baker, and published by the Religious Tract 
Society. 



74 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

through their officers, requested permission to be 
absent from the ceremony, as they could not, without 
doing violence to their consciences, unite in any act 
which implied belief in the idols. The general 
granted their request, but added that Eakelimaza 
would have his revenge. On entering the country 
they had gone to subdue, the forces were arranged in 
three divisions, the central and largest body of men 
being commanded by the general, in the midst of 
whose troops the idol was carried to the battle. The 
Christians were placed in the most exposed position, 
where it was probable they would be the first to fall. 
The two other divisions of the army were victorious, 
and took considerable spoil; but the central and 
strongest force, in which the idol was present, was 
defeated with the loss of about 1,000 men, 400 or 
500 of whom were regular disciplined troops. This 
was a loss unprecedented in the wars between the 
Kovas and other races, and the division returned 
with broken ranks and no booty; lowered in the 
estimation of other sections of the army, and of the 
general community. 

The Hovas seldom returned without spoil. In 
some instances it was reported that they brought 
home 10,000 youths, women, and children, who were 
sold into slavery. If only half that number were 
brought away, the slaughter of the men must have 
been great, and many tracts of country must have 
been left desolate and without inhabitants. 

The conduct of the Christian soldiers in this, as 
in other campaigns, was truly honourable. Though 



RELIGION IN THE TROOPS. 75 

equally exposed with others, and at times more so, 
they were always ready and prompt at every call. 
They were also distinguished by their consideration 
and kindness towards the vanquished, as well as 
by their honesty and the moral purity of their con- 
duct. They availed themselves of suitable oppor- 
tunities for holding meetings in each other's tents on 
Sunday, and at other times, for reading the Scrip- 
tures, singing, and prayer. Many of their comrades 
heard the word of God at these small camp gather- 
ings for the first time, and afterwards became sincere 
and exemplary converts to the Lord Jesus. On more 
than one occasion, when the army returned to the 
capital after a period of absence, the Christian 
soldiers visited the missionaries, accompanied by a 
number of their comrades who had forsaken the 
superstitions of their country, had become disciples 
of the Saviour, and were seeking recognition amongst 
His people. 

Other armies were organized and sent forth, and 
so determined were the government to keep up the 
strength of their military force, that every scholar 
above thirteen, and many scarcely more than twelve 
years of age, were drafted into the army. To prevent 
being left childless, parents purchased slave children, 
whom they sent to the schools as their own. The 
missionaries knew that they were only tolerated for 
the sake of the service which the teachers and arti- 
sans rendered to the government, and could not but 
regard as tokens of divine favour, in their anxious 
work, the large numbers of adults and children who, 



76 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

in 1833-4, voluntarily sought instruction, to enable 
them to read for themselves the sacred Scriptures. 

The educational efforts of the mission had now 
been continued for fourteen years, and the scholars, 
though few at first, had rapidly increased, until the 
number under instruction at one time exceeded 
4,000, who were all taught reading, writing, and 
arithmetic. It was estimated that from 10,000 to 
15,000 Malagasy youths had passed through the 
mission schools during the period under review;* 
and if each of these only taught one relative or 
friend to read, the number of readers would amount 
to 30,000. 

The recently awakened attention to Christianity 
had increased the number of readers, for the first 
aspiration of every one under religious impressions 
was to be able to read God's own word. Every 
Christian who could read was a voluntary and 
earnest teacher of others, for they all knew that 
the continuance of their opportunity was uncertain ; 
but few even of the inquirers, excepting the aged, 
remained for any length of time unable to read. 
The addition of these to the number already speci- 
fied, would, before the close of fifteen years after the 
opening of the first school, exhibit considerably more 
than 30,000 readers spread over different parts of 
the country. To supply these, large portions of the 
Bible had been translated, and, with liberal aid from 
the British and Foreign Bible Society, printed in the 

* "Narrative of Persecution in Madagascar," ty Johns and 
Freeman, p. 75. 



THE IDOLS CAST AWAY. 77 

native language. 2,500 tracts had also been printed 
by ready and generous encouragement from the 
Eeligious Tract Society; and these, besides school 
books, had been distributed amongst the people. 

How wonderful and striking had been the course 
of Divine Providence in relation to the extension of 
the kingdom of Christ in this part of the world ! 
The missionaries would have preferred more preach- 
ing and less teaching, but by no other course of 
action could so large a number of the people of 
Madagascar have been enabled to derive from the 
word of God spiritual nourishment, and strength 
of faith for the coming season of trial and 
suffering. 

The missionaries had made frequent visits to the 
adjacent villages, for the purpose of encouraging the 
native Christians, and preaching to the heathen. 
Increasing numbers afterwards cast away their 
charms, and burned their idols ; others came to the 
missionaries for further instruction, bringing the 
rejected idols as evidence of their sincerity. Among 
these was one belonging to several families. This 
idol had been a source of wealth to its possessor by 
the sale of small pieces of wood, which, having been 
hung about the idol, were afterwards sold as charms 
against fever, and other causes of danger. The cen- 
tral piece of wood which forms this structure is 
surrounded by shorter pieces, and by hollow silver 
ornaments, called crocodile's teeth, from their resem- 
blance to the teeth of that animal. Amongst these 
are brazen ornaments, which were occasionally 



78 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

anointed with what was regarded as sacred oil, or 
other unguents, used in the consecration of charms, 
and other emblems of native superstition. This object 
of so much misplaced trust had belonged to the head 
man of the village, whose son had disposed of the 
charms ; and such was the imagined power of these 
charms that an ox was often given as the price 
of one. The missionaries, when preaching in the 
village, spent some time in the family to which the 
idol belonged, and when the son visited them after- 
wards, they gave him a copy of the New Testament, 
which was made instrumental in his conversion to 
God ; one of the first public evidences of which was 
the discontinuance of the sale of the charms. 

It had never been difficult, since the commence- 
ment of the existing government, to obtain accusa- 
tions against any one favourable to Christianity ; 
and this young officer was accused to the queen of 
having practised witchcraft, in consequence of which 
he was required to drink the poison-water, that his 
guilt or innocence might be proved. His family, 
anxious to obtain a favourable issue, wished to 
employ the diviners. But the accused refused to 
allow of any employment of divination, declaring 
that it would be sin in him to allow it to be sup- 
posed that he believed it to be entitled to the 
slightest confidence. He repeated his declaration 
that he was innocent, and said, as he was condemned 
to the ordeal, he committed himself to God ; and by 
the result of the ordeal he was pronounced free 
from the crime which had been laid to his charge. 



AN IDOLATER CONVINCED. 79 

The effect of his deliverance induced his family to 
seek Christian instruction, and to unite in Christian 
worship. 

When the young officer was sufficiently recovered 
from the effects of the tangena he visited his family, 
and was rejoiced to find them seeking to know God. 
His father and the chief villagers gave up the idol 
to the young man, who stripped it of its ornaments, 
and buried it, but afterwards dug it up, and accom- 
panied by one of the older inhabitants of the 
place, took it to the missionary,* with a request that 
he would visit the village, and instruct the people 
more folly concerning the true God. 

Another instance is scarcely less instructive. A 
married couple who had applied to a maker of idols 
to furnish them with a household god, went to his 
house to receive it on the appointed day. It was 
not made, but promised in the evening. They 
agreed to wait ; and the man went to the forest, 
and brought home the branch of a tree, and pre- 
pared the idol, leaving the fragments of the wood 
scattered near the fireplace. In the evening he 
asked his visitors to take their meal of rice with 
him, and they saw him put some of the small 
branches of the bough, out of which their idol had 
been made, into the fire to boil the rice. Having 

* This idol, of which a representation is given on the next page, 
was sent to England, and deposited in the museum of the London 
Missionary Society. The rings and bandages are of fine silver chains. 
The ornaments on each side, called shark's teeth, are of silver, and 
hollow. They were filled with oil or other unguents used in 
anointing the pieces of wood used as charms. 






80 



THE MARTYR CHURCH. 



paid about two dollars for their new god, they re- 
turned home. Shortly afterwards, a young Christian 
calling at their house was led to read to the wife that 




part of the forty-fourth chapter of Isaiah,—" With 
part he roasteth roast, maketh a fire, warmeth him- 
self, and the residue thereof he maketh a god."* 

* " Narrative of Persecution," p. 54. 



FORMATION OF BIBLE CLASSES. 81 

The woman was astonished at the exact description 
of what she had herself witnessed. The reading of 
this passage was instrumental in convincing her of the 
truth of the sacred volume ; she abandoned her idoL 
and afterwards became a true disciple of the Saviour. 

Loss of health obliged Mr. Jones to return to 
England, and three other missionaries had recently 
been ordered by the government to leave the country. 
Those who were left knew that they were only 
allowed to remain for the sake of the advantages 
which the government derived from artisans, by 
whom from one to* two thousand youths had been 
taught useful kinds of skilled labour ; * but as, 
towards the close of 1834, the government proposed 
to enter into fresh engagements with Mr. Cameron, 
the missionaries were encouraged to hope that they 
might be allowed to continue their great work. 

Besides the preaching stations visited weekly, two 
large congregations met for worship every Lord's 
day in the capital. ^Nearly two hundred persons 
had applied for admission to Christian fellowship, 
and Bible classes had been formed for the regular 
perusal of the Scriptures. 

The richest measure of spiritual prosperity yet 
vouchsafed to the mission marked the close of the 
year 1834 In reviewing the past, and surveying 
the existing state of the mission at this time, the 
brethren thus wrote to the directors : — " We look on 
with wonder and gladness, and are often prompted 
to exclaim, ' This is the finger of God ! ' The diffi- 

* " Narrative of Persecution," p. 79. 
G 



82 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

culty still remains of ascertaining the number under 
religious impressions. But we have reason to think 
that several are savingly converted unto God, that 
many more are perfectly convinced of the folly of 
idolatry and divination, and that great numbers are 
awakened to inquire. The preached word is listened 
to attentively, and the Scriptures are earnestly 
sought and diligently examined. There are several 
prayer meetings held in the town during the week ; 
and a spirit of prayer exists and increases among 
the natives. These meetings are commenced and 
conducted by the natives themselves, at their own 
residences, and they consider themselves as acting 
on their own convictions, — at the movement of 
their own minds, and from a consideration of 
j^resent obligation to employ the means in their 
power for spreading around the knowledge of God, 
and of eternal life. God appears to manifest His 
purposes of mercy to this people by raising up an 
agency of His own from among themselves to carry 
on His own work, thus supplying the exigences 
of His cause by their unexpected instrumentality, 
and so compensating for our lack of service." * 

Similar awakenings were at this time experienced 
in villages and districts sixty and a hundred miles 
distant from the capital, where the worship consisted 
chiefly of reading the Scriptures and prayer. Appli- 
cations from these remote places for books, especially 
for the Scriptures, were frequent and numerous. 

It must not be supposed that there were not at 

*" History of Madagascar," vol. ii., pp. 484-5. 



HERESY AEISES. 83 

this time causes for anxiety and alarm. The follow- 
ing occurrence was one of the most mournful and 
perilous of these. A priest of one of the government 
idols, having heard from a native Christian, himself a 
converted priest, of the gospel of salvation by Jesus 
Christ, was deeply impressed, attended public wor- 
ship at the mission chapel, returned to the village 
where he resided, and earnestly endeavoured to per- 
suade the people to adopt his newly acquired religious 
views. Eegarding him as deranged, they treated his 
endeavours with levity. He again visited his friends 
at the capital, who advised him to learn what the 
word of God taught before he attempted to teach. 
The advice did not please him, and he said that God 
taught him independently of the Scripture. He 
returned home and became the itinerant teacher of a 
new faith, comprising the resurrection from the dead, 
the general judgment, and the happiness of the world 
when wars should cease and universal peace prevail. 
In about two years this man had drawn after him 
about two hundred followers, and had also associated 
the worship of his idol with that of the true God. The 
great danger of the movement arose from his de- 
claring that although he did not teach out of the 
Book, his religion was the same as that taught by the 
missionaries ; his moral conduct was irreproachable. 

In the autumn of 1834 this deluded man sent a 
second time to the queen, stating that he had an 
important message to deliver to her. The officer to 
whom the application was made known was also 
told that the followers of the priest were numerous. 



84 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

They were summoned to the capital, and the queen 
sent messengers to meet them on the road, and to 
say that if the message they were coming to deliver 
was not true, they must return and abandon their 
opinions; but if true, they were to come forward 
and deliver it. They affirmed that it was true, and 
advanced, being about two hundred in number, to 
the capital. When the officers and judges went and 
asked what they had to say, they answered that they 
had a message from God, that the queen would be 
sovereign of all the world ; that the dead would rise, 
and the living never die; that all would then live 
peaceably and happily, for there would be an end to 
the tangena, divination, murder, wars, and conten- 
tions. " God has told us these things, and God 
cannot lie. We offer," they said, "to forfeit our 
heads if what we say is false." 

The conversation or examination continued for two 
or three days. In relation to the assertion that all 
mankind were derived from one source, the officers 
asked, "Do you mean to say that we and the Mo- 
sambiques are from the same parents ? " They 
replied that the queen and all the human race de- 
scended from the same parents ; and it was supposed 
this answer helped to seal their doom. Most of the 
two hundred remained firm to their word, but some 
withdrew. About midnight, after their statements 
had been concluded, the queen sent and put the 
priest and three of his principal followers to death. 
They were placed with their heads downwards in a 
rice-pit, boiling water being then poured on them, 



SUSPICION EXCITED. 85 

and earth afterwards thrown in until the pit was 
filled np. Seventeen of these men were compelled 
to take the tangena, under which eight of them died ; 
the rest were all sold into slavery and their property 
confiscated, yielding to the queen, officers, and judges 
several thousands of dollars. 

Although this combination of deluded men was 
destroyed, the event tended to excite suspicion 
against Christianity and its adherents. Such was 
the displeasure of some of the heathen party as to 
its progress, that spies were sent to the several places 
of worship to report any expressions in the addresses 
of the preachers which might be construed as in- 
jurious to the government ; and declarations respect- 
ing the resurrection and the last judgment were 
reported unfavourably to the queen. The unwilling- 
ness of the Christians to abstain from work on days 
sacred to the idols worshipped by the inhabitants of 
the village in which they resided, also gave offence to 
the heathen. A young man who had been forced 
to desist from work on the idol's day, and who was 
overheard expressing his opinions respecting the 
objects of their worship, was, on the pretended order 
of the idol, sentenced to be cut to pieces, or the rice 
crop would be destroyed. This was reported to the 
queen, who did not gratify his accusers by his execu- 
tion, but ordered him to drink the tangena, and in a 
short time after swallowing the poison, the supposed 
proofs of his innocence appeared, to the great dis- 
appointment of his enemies, and the grateful joy of 
the Christians. When, a few days afterwards, the 



86 THE MAETYE CHUECH. 

young man came from one of the villages to the 
capital in a palanquin, as was customary on such 
occasions, a large number of Christians wearing white 
lambas joined the procession. From a distance the 
queen and some of her officers beheld with great 
astonishment the large procession. The queen in- 
quired what it meant, and did not seem pleased when 
informed that it was a procession of Christians accom- 
panying one of their number who had been declared 
innocent by the tangena. 



87 



CHAPTER IV. 

Christian refusal to offer heathen sacrifice — False accusation of 
preaching sedition — A national assembly summoned — Christian 
worship declared unlawful — Missionaries forbidden to teach 
Christianity — Christians required to accuse themselves — Books 
to be given up — Stedfastness of the Christians — Their noble 
confession before the judges — Midnight meetings for prayer — 
Translation of the Scriptures —Compilation of dictionaries — 
Translation of " Pilgrim's Progress " — Last missionaries leave 
the country — Accusation against Kafaravavy and her com- 
panions. 

IN the duties of subjects, of members of society, as 
well as in the social relations of domestic life, the 
Christians were in general so blameless, that the 
chief judge, before whom the accusations of other 
crimes besides rejection of the idols were preferred, 
bore a noble testimony in their favour when he 
dismissed their accusers with the declaration, that 
offences against the idols must be carried before the 
queen, and that no charge could be sustained against 
the Christians on any other grounds. It was only 
in relation to the homage and obedience demanded 
for the idols, and the superstitions associated with 
them, that the adherents to the new faith were found 
wanting. In reference to these the government 
and its agents found that the simple and sincere 



88 THE MART YE CHURCH. 

faith of the Christians endowed its possessors with 
a passive but invincible power — the heretofore un- 
known power of enlightened conscience armed with 
truth— before which they were helpless. It was also 
seen that, sustained by this power, the Christians 
opposed to the claims of the idols an unfaltering 
firmness and willingness to suffer, which filled their 
persecutors with rage and hate, and urged them to 
engage the highest earthly and invisible powers in 
their destruction. 

Instances of the stedfast obedience of the Chris- 
tians to the requirements of their faith occurred with 
increasing frequency ; these were brought under the 
notice of the government, and were, with criminating 
additions, made known to the sovereign. One in- 
stance may suffice to show the requirements urged 
on behalf of the idols. A young chief, nearly related 
to a high officer of the government, was appointed 
guardian of an idol. This young Christian was told 
by the chief who had adopted him as his son, that 
at the approaching national festival the queen would 
present an ox to the idol, which he must kill as a 
sacrifice, and must eat part of it in honour of the 
idol, burning some of the fat as incense before it 
His refusal to do this greatly incensed the chief 
against him, and against the teaching which caused 
him to refuse the homage required by the gods of 
his country. 

The Christians were not ignorant of the crimes 
laid to their charge, nor of the endeavours of the 
priests and chiefs to excite against them the anger of 



SPIES AND FALSE ACCUSATIONS. 5y 

the queen. Ad unusual seriousness pervaded their 
public and social gatherings ; and seldom had larger 
or more deeply attentive audiences been seen than 
those which crowded the places of worship on the 
Sabbath days at this time. From the families of 
the immediate connections of the sovereign to those 
of the humblest slave, might now be numbered some 
among their relatives who were disciples of the 
Saviour. The large assemblies gathered for worship, 
the earnestness of the native preachers, and the 
serious attention of the people, were peculiarly 
offensive to the priests and their adherents, who 
carried the reports of their spies to the palace. 

About this time the chief who had failed in 
his purpose to destroy by tangena the young Chris- 
tian who had refused homage to his idol, went to one 
of the evening meetings for worship, where an ex- 
cellent sermon was preached by a Christian slave, 
from Josh. xxiv. 14, 15. The chief returned, and 
according to his own interpretation of the sermon 
framed his accusation. Jehovah, whom they were 
exhorted to serve, was the first king of the English, 
and Jesus Christ was the second. By the gods whom 
the fathers of the Jews had served was meant the 
queen and her predecessors. On this iniquitous 
perversion of his words, the loyal Christian teacher 
was represented as preaching treason to the people. 

The informer then went successively to three of 
the principal officers of the government and, weeping 
for effect before one of them, asked, it is said, for a 
spear to destroy himself, that he might not live to 



90 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

see the calamities coming upon his country. En- 
couraged by a message from the queen, he declared 
that certain persons in and around the capital were 
changing the customs of their ancestors, despising 
divination and the idols of the queen. " They hold," 
he added, "assemblies in the night, and deliver 
speeches, without permission from the queen. Beyond 
this, they urge all present to serve Jehovah and Jesus 
Christ ; and these meetings are carried on by slaves. 
We cannot see the end of these things. The queen 
knows, and she alone, what is best to be done ; but 
we fear these people, who have become so friendly 
with the English, will attempt to transfer the kingdom 
of the queen to them." 

Eatsimanisa, the chief minister, laid this accusation, 
with his own confirmation of its charges, before the 
queen on the following day, when, it is said, the 
queen burst into tears of grief and rage, and wept for 
a long time. She then swore, by the name of the 
highest spiritual power to whom she could appeal, 
that she would put a stop to these things with 
shedding of blood. From that time the most profound 
silence reigned in the palace ; the music was no 
longer heard ; all amusements and dancing were 
discontinued for about a fortnight; the court ap- 
peared as if overtaken by some great calamity, while 
uncertainty and alarm pervaded all classes of society. 
An edict was issued requiring the people from the 
surrounding country, even to a child of a cubit high, 
to assemble at the capital on Sunday, the first day 
of March. 



THE CHRISTIANS THREATENED. 91 

In the meantime, preparatory to the great as- 
sembly, a private order was given to write down 
a list of the houses in which meetings for prayer 
were held, and the names of all who had been baptized . 
The next day four officers met in the courtyard of 
the palace, when the names of the baptized, and a 
list of the houses where meetings had been held, were 
given in. The queen was astonished at their 
number, appeared exceedingly violent against the 
Christians, and swore in the name of Andrianim- 
poinimerina that she would put to death the owners 
of the houses. Two officers who were present spoke 
in favour of the Christians, recounting the benefits 
which the teachers of Christianity had conferred on 
the country, and stating that the death of the 
Christians would be a loss to the nation. Other 
chiefs were consulted about the desirableness of 
putting some to death in each district; but they 
expressed their disapproval of such a measure. The 
queen thanked the officers for their advice, and 
promised to consider it. 

On the Sunday previous to the great assembly 
the chapel at Ambatonakanga was crowded. A 
judge who went there in search of his daughter, 
fearing she might suffer from being seen with the 
Christians, was surprised at the numbers, and after- 
wards remarked, " You will never see such an as- 
sembly there again/' On the same Sunday evening, 
the queen, passing by the chapel and overhearing the 
singing of the Christians, observed, " These people 
will not be quiet until some of them lose their heads." 



92 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

Two days after the list of houses used as places 
for prayer, and the names of the baptized had been 
read to the queen, the Christians assembled at Am- 
batonakanga for their usual week-day service; a 
native Christian preached an impressive sermon 
from the peculiarly appropriate text, " Save, Lord; 
we perish." It was the last public discourse ever 
delivered in that building. 

While the Christians were thus employed, the 
missionaries went to the house of Mr. Griffiths to 
receive a communication from the queen, and a letter 
was presented to them by the chief minister, contain- 
ing the following important announcement : — " That 
which has been established by my ancestors I cannot 
permit to be changed: I am neither ashamed nor 
afraid to maintain the customs of my ancestors. And 
with regard to religious worship, whether on the 
Sunday or not, and the practice of baptism, and the 
existence of a society, — these things cannot be done 
by my subjects in my country. But if there be 
knowledge of the arts and sciences, that will be 
beneficial to my subjects in the country, teach that; 
for it is good." 

In acknowledging the letter the missionaries thus 
expressed themselves: — "We are exceedingly grieved 
respecting your word, which says religious worship is 
not to be performed by your subjects. For we know 
and are assured that the word of God is beneficial to 
men, and the means of making them wise, and that it 
renders illustrious and prosperous those kingdoms 
which obey it ; and this teaching of ours the Word of 



PROCLAMATION PROHIBITING CHRISTIANITY. 93 

God, together with teaching the good disposition^ 
and the arts and sciences, are the purposes for which 
we left our native country. 

" We, therefore, most humbly and earnestly entreat 
of your Majesty not to suppress our teaching of the 
Word of God, but that we may still teach it, together 
with the useful arts and sciences." 

Morning had scarcely dawned on the first of March 
when the report of cannon, intended to strike awe 
and terror into the hearts of the people, ushered in 
the day on which the will and the power of the 
sovereign of Madagascar to punish the defenceless 
followers of Christ was to be declared. Fifteen 
thousand troops were drawn up, part of them on the 
plain of Imahamasina, and the rest in two lines a 
mile in length along the road leading to the place, 
where it was estimated by some of the missionaries 
that at least a hundred thousand persons were 
assembled. The booming of artillery from the high 
ground overlooking the plain, and the reports of the 
musketry of the troops, which were continued during 
the preparatory arrangements for the kabary or pro- 
clamation, produced among the assembled multitude 
the most intense and anxious feelings. At length 
the chief judge, attended by his companions in office, 
advanced and delivered the message of the sovereign, 
which was enforced by the chief officer of the govern- 
ment. After expressing the queen's confidence in 
the idols, and her determination to treat as criminals 
all who refused to do them homage, the message pro- 
ceeded, " As to baptism, societies, places of worship 



94 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

distinct from the schools, and the observances of the 
Sabbath, how many rulers are there in this land ? 
Is it not I alone that rule ? These things are not to 
be done, they are unlawful in my country, saith 
Eanavalomanjaka ; for they are not the customs of our 
ancestors, and I do not change their customs, except- 
ing as to those things alone which improve my 
country. 

" Now, then, those of you who have observed bap- 
tism, entered into society, and formed separate houses 
for prayer (or worship), I grant you one month to 
confess having done these things, and if you come 
not within that period, but wait to be first found out 
and accused by others, I denounce death against you, 
for I am not a sovereign that deceives. Mark, then, 
the time ; it is one month from yonder sun of this 
Sabbath that I give you to confess, and this is the 
method you are to adopt. The scholars at Ambo- 
dinandohalo,* and those at Ambatonakanga — and not 
those only, for there are scholars in all these twelve 
principal towns, — and the scholars that have not 
opened separate houses, but at the appointed schools 
alone have worshipped and learned, these are not con- 
demned, and these are not to confess ; but those who 
have opened other houses, these are to accuse them- 
selves. 

" And those who have been baptized, whether they 
have worshipped in other houses or not, these must 
also accuse themselves, and those who have entered' 
into society. 

* The large central school, used also as a place of worship. 



SELF- ACCUSATION ORDERED. 95 

"And you, the civilians and soldiers that have 
been attending the schools for worship, and especially 
such as have opened other houses for worship, and 
been baptized, and entered into society, and kept 
the Sabbath, come and accuse yourselves on these 
accounts, for I the sovereign do not deceive ; but if 
any come first and accuse you, I denounce death 
against you, and I do not deceive, saith Eanavalo- 
manjaka. 

"And I moreover announce this to you, saith 
Eanavalomanjaka : Here are your slaves that you 
have been teaching to write, and who have gone to 
the houses of prayer, and others who have gone to 
the schools, and especially that have been baptized ; 
all these must also come and accuse themselves. 

"And again, as to your mode of swearing, the 
answer you are giving, ' It is " true ! " ' and when you 
are asked, ' Do you swear it ? ' the answer is ' True.' 

"I wonder at this. What, indeed, is that word 
'True'? 

"And then, in your worship, yours is not the 
custom of our ancestors ; you change that, and you 
are saying, ' Believe/ ' Follow the customs,' and again 
you say, ' Submit to Him/ ' Fear Him.' 

" Eemember, it is not about that which is sacred 
in heaven and earth, that which is held sacred by 
the twelve sovereigns, and all the sacred idols, that 
you are now accused ; but it is that you are doing 
what is not the custom of our ancestors; that I 
abhor, saith Eanavalomanjaka." 

Two officers from one of the provinces then came 



96 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

forward, and, after the usual expressions of loyalty, 
declared that the things of which her Majesty dis- 
approved had been done in ignorance, not in dis- 
obedience. They then enumerated the friendship 
reciprocated between Eadama and the English, with 
the advantages the nation had received from the in- 
dustry, intelligence, and good conduct of the Chris- 
tians as subjects. After which they begged the queen 
to accept an ox and a dollar as a fine or offering for 
what had been done, and a pledge of its avoidance 
for the future. These addresses appeared to give 
very general satisfaction. 

Eainiharo, the commander-in-chief of the army, 
then advanced and spoke as follows : — " Eespecting 
those who have received baptism, who have abstained 
from certain common practices, who have said, 
' Follow its laws, do not fight,' who have reviled the 
holy idols, kept sacred the Sabbath, &c, unless those 
who are guilty of these crimes come forward by this 
day month to accuse themselves, we the hundred 
thousand (meaning the whole of the army) shall 
destroy them; for they have done these things of 
their own accord, without asking permission of the 
sovereign and consulting their officers. Unless, 
therefore, they come forward by this day month to 
accuse themselves, we are ready, Eanavalomanjaka, 
to cut off their heads." 

Before the meeting separated the judges agreed to 
convey the proposal on behalf of the people to the 
queen, and the multitudes retired from the ground. 
The firing of cannon the next day announced that a 



THREATENED DEATH. 97 

royal message would be sent; but any hope which 
the presentation of their appeal might have inspired 
was destroyed when the officers, at the appointed 
time, arrived and announced to the anxious and 
expectant crowds that Eanavalona refused their 
peace-offering and their petition. The officers then 
further announced that, instead of allowing a month, 
during which they might accuse themselves,* the 
queen now ordered that within one week from that 
day every class of people, soldiers, citizens, scholars, 
artisans and slaves, should separately, as classes, and 
individually, repair to the appointed authorities, 
and acknowledge or give in a written statement of 
the offences they had committed. And further, that 
there might be no mistake about the consequences 
of neglect, the queen's message added, "Against 
those who do not come within that period, I denounce 
death/' Then, after specifying the officers who had 
been appointed to receive their accusations, and the 
crimes that were to be acknowledged, the speech closed 
with the following warning : — " Eemember that next 
Sunday is the last day, and unless you send in your 
names by that day you die wilfully." Whether or 
not the queen at this time intended to execute her 
threat, the government were evidently seeking to 
impress upon the people the enormity of their crime 
and its fearful consequences. 

A special message was the same day sent to the 

* The government wished it to be considered clemency on their 
part to give the people the opportunity of confessing their offences^ 
as in such cases half the punishment was usually remitted. 
H 



98 THE MAKTYK CHURCH. 

missionaries, ordering them to refrain from com- 
municating to their scholars religious instruction in 
any form and at all times ; but lessons on chemistry, 
&c, such as Mr. Cameron was at that time giving 
to a class of young men, were allowed. Besides the 
scholars, the twelve senior teachers who had united 
in Christian worship were required to accuse them- 
selves of having done so ; and although they pleaded 
Eadama's authority, they complied, stating that they 
" dare not oppose the sun ; " to which the queen re- 
plied, "It is well that you do not dare to contend with 
the sun, but that you come to confess your guilt, and 
to crave pardon. It remains with me now to 
choose your punishment, and I will do with you as 
I will do with the others, for I shall show no 
partiality among my subjects." 

There were few families in or around the capital 
in which some of its members were not involved in 
the accusations required, and no adequate conception 
can be formed of the deep concern and agitated 
feelings of the people during the remaining days of 
that fearful week. The utterly unfounded accusa- 
tion, against the Christian teachers, of preaching 
sedition and inculcating disloyalty, was often reite- 
rated, and plausibly represented by some of the 
officers as hostility to the queen personally. This 
offence was also rendered more heinous by being 
directed against the deified spirits of her ancestors, 
and her own pretensions as the visible deity on 
earth. Treason and sacrilege were the highest 
crimes known, — both were included in the charges 



DECLENSIONS AND STEDFASTNESS. 99 

against the Christians, and were therefore represented 
as requiring the shedding of blood. 

In a state of society like that then, or even now, 
prevailing at Antananarivo, an ordinary untroubled 
exterior does not conceal the strength or depth of 
the agitation within. All is visible and unrestrained. 
The missionaries learned more of the life and power 
of the mighty forces aroused by the results of their 
divinely appointed work, than they had ever con- 
ceived of before, or could otherwise ever have under- 
stood. The heathen, especially the priests, were 
now vigilant, active, hopeful, if not joyous, as they 
seemed to think the day of vengeance from their 
gods, and the hour of their triumph was come. The 
Christians and their teachers had sources of grief 
from among their occasional associates, as well as 
from the proceedings of the government. Some 
who had at times appeared in their assemblies, now 
consorted with the heathen and plunged into wicked- 
ness. Others denied having believed in Christ, or 
made excuses for their association with His people. 
These were the chaff among the wheat. 

The great body of the disciples felt no hesitation as 
to what was their duty, and were only anxious to dis- 
charge it. They gave themselves to prayer, and when 
appearing before the judges, faltered not in their testi- 
mony. They declared that they meant no evil, and 
had done no evil to the queen or her kingdom, in the 
reading of the Scriptures, prayer, and observance of 
the Sabbath. They prayed, they added, to the God 
of heaven and earth to prosper the queen's reign. 



100 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

One exemplary and honoured Christian being 
asked by the judges how many times he had prayed, 
replied that he could not tell ; but for the last three 
or four years he had passed no single day without 
praying several times to God. When further asked 
how he prayed, he answered before enemies and 
friends, that he confessed his sins to God and asked 
forgiveness, imploring God's help that he might live 
without sinning, and be prepared for eternal happi- 
ness. He also asked, he said, the same blessings for 
his family and friends, for the queen, and all her 
subjects ; and added, " I ask all these things in the 
name of Jesus Christ, for we receive nothing from 
God but through His Son Jesus Christ, who died for 
sinners." The judges observed that such prayers were 
very good, but as the queen did not approve of them, 
they ought not to be offered in her country. This 
faithful and devoted man, at the same time, spoke 
much to the judges of the holy Saviour who died 
for the guilty, and while he did so was treated with 
attention and respect. 

Although prayer had been forbidden, it ' was 
never more sincere and earnest than at this time. 
One faithful company of believers met every mid- 
night in the vestry at Ambatonakanga for prayer, 
and long afterwards remembered the consolation and 
strength they had found in those midnight hours 
when drawing nigh unto God. And God drew nigh 
unto them. At one of these midnight meetings, 
a queen's officer of high rank presented himself 
as a friend, and was welcomed; and when asked 



CONSOLATION IN THE SCKIPTUKES. 101 

afterwards why at this perilous time he joined the 
Christians, he replied that he perceived so much 
injustice in the kabary, that he determined to join 
the injured party, and that after having attended a 
few times the meetings of the Christians, he resolved 
that their God should be his God. That as to 
accusing himself, he was determined not to do it 
until he was convinced that in attending their 
meetings he had done wrong. This noble follower 
of Christ proved faithful to his Saviour, and a true 
friend to the Christians, with whom he afterwards 
suffered. 

The word of God was indeed precious to the 
Christians in those days. A number of Christian 
women, whose husbands had gone to the city to give 
in their accusations, communed with each other, and 
were sad as they sat together in the house of one 
of their number. Late in an evening of this week 
a Christian friend entered the dwelling, and listened 
to the tale of their sorrow. He endeavoured to cheer 
them, presenting before them the promises of God's 
word, the faithfulness and love of their blessed Lord, 
and urged upon them prayer ; he also read to them 
the forty-sixth Psalm, prayed with them, and left 
them trusting and cheerful. These women, one of 
whom was sold into slavery on account of her faith, 
remembered that evening with grateful feelings, and 
long afterwards declared that they had seldom since, 
in hours of depression, failed to find consolation and 
support in reading that psalm and in prayer. 

After much distress on account of the cruel, re- 



102 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

volting, and nameless brutalities which it was reported 
were to be inflicted on the Christians, the day which 
had been regarded with such strong but opposite 
feelings arrived ; and on the morning of the ninth of 
March the queen's message was brought by the judges 
and officers to the assembled people. The offences 
of the Christians were recited, the punishment due 
to them declared, especially the exhortations to the 
people to " Believe in Him," " To follow Him," &c. ; 
adding, in reference to the scholars, " Now for all this 
evil which you have done in my country, I would 
have so dealt with you that you should never have 
had power to do good or evil again, had not the cries 
and entreaties of Imerina, viz., the people of the 
province, prevented me." On hearing the interces- 
sion of the people, the queen accepted their offering 
and money, and refrained from inflicting punishment, 
but added, "Your lives alone will be sufficient the 
next time." And with regard to Christianity, after 
enjoining prayer to the objects of national worship, 
the message was thus closed : — " If any change this 
mode of worship, I will punish them with death, 
saith Queen Eanavalona." 

The fear inspired by this threat was deemed suffi- 
cient. None were put to death or sold into slavery, 
but about four hundred officers were reduced in rank, 
and fines paid for two thousand others. Although 
life was not taken, the purpose to extinguish Chris- 
tianity was firmly determined on. The week after 
the queen's message had been delivered, every person 
who had received books was ordered to deliver them 



CONVERSIONS INCREASE. 103 

up, without retaining even a single leaf, on pain of 
death. This order was severely felt, few obeyed it 
literally, and in the distant provinces scarcely at all; 
the books given up, being regarded as English pro- 
perty, were returned to the missionaries. 

So far as opportunity offered, the missionaries 
continued privately to impart consolation and en- 
couragement to the Christians; but their opportu- 
nities were few, and the peril to the people great. 
Notwithstanding this, the converts continued to in- 
crease, and their spiritual improvement was rapid. 
The ordinance of the Lord's Supper was at times 
privately administered to them. Their endeavours 
to learn to read the Scriptures were unremitted, and the 
receiving a copy of portions of the Scriptures afforded 
unspeakable joy. Some walked sixty, some a hun- 
dred miles to obtain one. Not a few who received 
parts of the sacred volume at this time found it after- 
wards, in the lonely forest or the desert mountain, a 
fountain of living water, and a storehouse of bread 
from heaven. 

The missionaries had never supposed that all who 
attended their preaching believed in Christ; but as 
faith cometh by hearing, they had rejoiced in their 
attendance, and prayed for their conversion. Though 
grieved that the faith of some had failed when the 
day of trial came, the native Christians, as well as 
their teachers, were still more deeply afflicted when 
they heard that the evasions and excuses of those 
who had sought thereby to escape punishment, had 
been made the occasion of all being stigmatised as 



104 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

cowardly and false. It was reported that one chief 
who had visited their chapels as a spy, declared that 
when he heard the Christians singing, "I am not 
afraid to die/' he thought it was so ; but that when 
he afterwards heard them accusing themselves, and 
begging for their lives, he knew that they were as 
much afraid of death as others, and " had been singing 
lies." Indeed, he added, he did not believe there 
were any true Christians in Madagascar. 

The advantages conferred by teaching the youth of 
the country to work in wood and iron, especially the 
latter, were highly prized by all classes. Excellent 
iron abounds in several parts of the country, and the 
people, with great patience and labour, and by a rude 
and simple process, melted the ore mixed with char- 
coal in stone or clay pits, or kilns, covered over with 
clay, providing the blast by pistons worked by hand 
in hollow trunks of trees. We have already stated 
that they were able to construct a number of rude but 
useful articles before the missionaries arrived, but the 
greater variety of workmanship and excellent finish 
which the English smith taught them, were esteemed 
by many as among the greatest benefits which the 
mission had conferred on the people. Some hundreds 
of native youths had been taught by Mr. Chick, the 
intelligent smith associated with the mission, and all 
the ordinary as well as more complicated ironwork re- 
quired in the water-wheel, and other machinery and 
buildings erected for the government, had been made 
by native smiths, under the direction of their inde- 
fatigable Christian instructor. 



MISSIONARY OPERATIONS RESTRICTED. 105 

The government had also encouraged education and 
attendance on public worship, and it was not until 
it had been falsely represented that sedition was 
preached, that any hostility was manifested in that 
quarter. The threat of capital punishment doubtless 
alarmed a number in whom religious impressions 
were only faint and undefined; and although the 
great body of the Christians fearlessly confessed their 
faith before their judges, the ignoble use which had 
been made of the fears of others was probably not 
without its influence on the believers in future 
seasons of severer trials. 

The stern prohibition against Christian instruction 
and worship throughout the country on pain of 
death, and the order to the missionaries not to teach 
religion in any form, had virtually brought the mission 
to an end. But one great work, the translation of the 
Old Testament, was still unfinished, and to its com- 
pletion the missionaries now directed their undivided 
energies. Mr. Baker, assisted by the artisans, worked 
at the printing of the translation, until the whole was 
finished ; and thus, by their last labour, the sorrowing 
missionaries conferred on the people the greatest boon 
which, next to the introduction of Christianity itself, 
Madagascar had received. Messrs. Freeman and 
Johns also compiled English and Malagasy dic- 
tionaries, which have proved highly serviceable to 
their successors, and are the only ones yet published. 

The missionary could now neither open the chapel 
nor preach in his own house. No Christian could 
visit him without danger, and, except with extreme 



106 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

caution, they seldom entered his door. He could 
visit none of his flock in their own dwellings without 
exciting suspicion, and exposing them to peril. Under 
these circumstances the brethren could not but 
question the duty of remaining; more especially as 
the government pretended to believe that their 
teaching of Christianity had only been a cover under 
which they promoted political purposes. Their most 
judicious native friends also appeared to think that, for 
the future interests of the gospelin the country, it would 
be best that they should retire, at least for a season. 

The government would gladly have retained the 
artisans, especially those who had taught them to 
work in iron and to construct machinery; but, as 
Christianity was proscribed, these Christian men 
declined the overtures of the government, and with 
blighted hopes and deepest sorrow, chiefly on account 
of the scattered and exposed condition of the infant 
church they had been honoured to gather, Messrs. 
Freeman, Cameron, Chick, and Kitching, left the 
capital in June, 1835, Messrs. Johns and Baker 
remaining for a season. 

To these two mission families the ensuing year was 
a period of anxiety and distress rarely equalled, and 
perhaps never surpassed, in the missionary experience 
of modern times. The departure of the other mission- 
aries failed to assuage the wrath of the government 
against the Christians. The servants of those who 
had left were subjected to the treacherous ordeal of 
the tangena, to prove whether or no they were 
exempt from any malign influence contracted by 



THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS " TRANSLATED. 107 

residing in the houses of the Christian teachers, and 
two of them died. The infant of another was 
destroyed by the queen's orders the day after its birth. 
The government became more oppressive. Sunday 
was desecrated by compulsory work and by public 
amusements; while vice, disease, and poverty in- 
creased among the people. 

During this time Mr. Johns translated into Mala- 
gasy that inimitable itinerary of Christian life, " The 
Pilgrim's Progress." Six copies were transcribed, 
and distributed in manuscript among the Christians. 
The peculiar structure of the native language, in 
which names of persons are generally descriptive of 
some quality or circumstance connected with parent- 
age, birth, or character, one name often comprising a 
complete sentence, favoured the transfusion into the 
translation of much of the spirit, truth, and beauty of 
the original. A copy of the translation was sent to 
Mr. Freeman, then in England, where it was printed 
and forwarded to the Christians, by whom it was 
joyfully received, and, next to the Scriptures, prized 
as their most valued treasure ; at which we cannot be 
surprised when we consider the many graphic 
delineations of Christian life, as then existing in 
Madagascar, which that incomparable work contains. 

Gradually the Christians sought out their fellow- 
believers, using the utmost caution before disclosing 
their own feelings to others. Sometimes a recognition 
was secured by reference to Jer. xxx. 15, — " If I declare 
it unto thee, wilt thou not directly put me to death ? " 
To which the answer would be a naming of the 



108 THE MART YE CHURCH. 

following verse : — " As the Lord liveth, which made 
us this soul, I will not put thee to death, neither will 
I give thee into the hand of those men who seek thy 
life." The Christians ventured afterwards to meet 
secretly in their own houses or in those of the 
missionaries, but more frequently they met on the 
summits of solitary mountains, whence they could 
survey the rocky hills, and brown or grassy plains, 
and observe the movements of men at a great 
distance. In such places they would give expression 
to their pent-up feelings by singing the praises of 
God their Saviour, and reading His blessed word, 
without fear of being overheard or disturbed by those 
hunting for their lives. 

The application to teach and to print books 
being sternly refused, and a fresh persecution having 
again broken forth, and having received intimation 
that the government expected them to leave, the 
missionaries deemed it their duty to follow their 
brethren. Leaving with the native Christians about 
seventy complete Bibles, several boxes of the 
Psalms, Testaments, hymn-books, and others of 
different kinds — the chief part of which were buried 
for greater security, — and after many prayers, 
Messrs. Johns and Baker, the last of the mission- 
aries, sorrowfully parted from their Christian brethren, 
and set out for the coast, in July, 1836. 

The object of the persecution which now broke 
forth was a member of a family of rank and position, 
who had become a sincere disciple of Christ before 
the government had proscribed Christianity. Her 



PERSECUTION OF RAFARAVAYY. 109 

name was Kafaravavy. She "belonged to a family 
remarkable for zealous devotion to the idols and to 
the superstitions of the country. This distinguished 
lady had been awakened to a concern for her soul's 
salvation by the conversation of a native Christian. 
The missionaries had afterwards every reason to 
believe that her heart had been changed by the Holy 
Spirit, and that she had become a true convert to 
Christ. Before the suppression of Christianity she 
had obtained one of the largest houses in the capital, 
which she appropriated to Christian worship ; and 
her simplicity of character and earnestness induced 
many to attend the preaching of the gospel. 

Notwithstanding the punishment threatened by the 
queen, Kafaravavy and a few female friends occasion- 
ally met in her house on Sunday evenings to read and 
pray. On the 17th of June three of her slaves went 
to the judge and accused her of these practices. 
A Christian who heard the accusation hastened to 
inform her of it. She immediately placed her Bible 
and other books in a place of security, while her 
father, on hearing what the slaves had done, had them 
confined in irons. Kafaravavy, however, ordered 
them to be liberated, sent for them, forgave them, 
wept over them, and spoke to them of the mercy 
and forgiveness of God through Christ. Two of 
them afterwards became Christians, and one of them 
died for her faith. 

The judge demanded the names of her companions, 
and, on her refusal to give them, reported her offence 
to the queen, who in great wrath exclaimed, "Is it 



110 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

possible that any one is so daring as to defy me ? 
And that one a woman, too ! Go and put her to 
death at once." Two of the queen's high officers, 
and a woman of rank and influence with the queen, 
pleaded for the life of the accused, on account of ser- 
vices which her father and brother had rendered to 
the State, and the sentence was deferred. 

Eafaravavy had one small tract still in her posses- 
sion. It was on the love and influence of the Holy 
Spirit. The expression of a devout Christian re- 
corded in that small book — viz., " I will cast myself 
at the feet of Jesus, and if I perish, I will perish 
there ; " to which some one had answered, " If you 
perish there, you will be the first that ever did, for 
sooner shall the heavens and the earth pass away 
than the Saviour reject any one coming to Him" — 
seemed to have made a deep impression on her 
mind. 

On the day on which the last of the missionaries 
were to leave the capital, Eafaravavy, not knowing 
the hour at which she might be summoned by the 
executioner, went, at about three o'clock in the 
morning, to take leave of them. The interview 
was deeply affecting to both parties. Mrs. Johns 
afterwards remarked, "I shall never forget the 
serenity and composure with which she related to 
me the consolation she found in pleading the pro- 
mises of God, and drawing near to Him in prayer." 
It was on the same day that, contrary to the ex- 
pectation of Eafaravavy and her friends, the queen 
sent an officer to say that the services of her father 



PERSEVERANCE IN THE FAITH. Ill 

had secured her pardon ; but she must pay a fine, 
and if ever again guilty of a similar offence, life 
alone would then make atonement for her crime. 

In order to avoid frequent interruption and danger, 
from the constant watch kept over her every move- 
ment by the emissaries of the government, Kafaravavy 
bought a house at Ambatonakanga ; there a small 
company of believers, some even from the district of 
Yonizongo, many miles distant, occasionally met at 
night for prayer. Sometimes they travelled twenty 
miles to hold, on the top of a mountain, or in the 
hollows on its sides, their religious meetings, losing 
all sense of weariness in the freedom and security 
with which they could join in praise and prayer to 
God. 

About twelve months after his departure, Mr. 
Johns visited the coast, and at Tamatave was glad- 
dened by the arrival of four Christians with intelli- 
gence of their brethren in the interior. They reported 
that the mind of the queen remained the same in 
regard to Christianity. " It is thought," they wrote, 
" that we shall certainly forget the word of God now 
that we have no teachers. The queen does not know 
that the best Teacher of all, the Holy Spirit, is still 
with us." " We will go forward," they added, " in 
the strength of the Lord. If we confess Him, He will 
also confess us, when He shall come in the clouds to 
judge the world, and to present all that are His, 
blameless, before the Father for ever. We have 
opportunities of meeting on the mountains to sing 
and pray on the Sabbath. We have also three 



112 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

services in the capital during the week, after sunset. 
Our meetings are large, through the diligence of the 
disciples in conversation, in season and out of season; 
so that when we examine the state of ' Pilgrim/ we 
wish to belike him in 'progress.' All the Christians 
here are teaching others to read, there are ten learn- 
ing with one friend, six with another, four with 
another, and the number is increasing. How much 
does the compassion of the Saviour console us now ! 
We are filled with wonder at the work of the Holy 
Spirit ; for it is He who persuades us to increase 
thus in love. The word is indeed true that says, * I 
will send unto you the Comforter.' ' It is expedient 
for you that I go away.' Precious to us now is 
Jesus. He is our rock, our shield, our hope, and 
our life." 

We have seen how, in a campaign in the south, the 
, heroic faith of the Christian soldiers sustained them, 
when they refused to acknowledge the claims of the 
national idol carried in their ranks to the battle. 
They were threatened by their commanding officer 
with the vengeance of that idol, but trusting in God, 
they stedfastly advanced in the conflict where danger 
was greatest, and where the largest number were 
expected to fall. In another army that same faith 
was sustained by the love of Christ in the heart. 
In a letter to Mr. Johns from the Christians at 
the capital, speaking of the death of a Christian 
soldier who had fallen in an expedition to the 
north, the writer observes, " He was a beloved 
brother, and we frequently found great pleasure in 



FAITH OF A CHRISTIAN SOLDIER. 113 

his society. One of our friends who was with him 
in his tent when he died, having asked him if he had 
any fear, he replied, 'Why should I fear to die 
while Jesus is my friend ? He hath loved me with 
an everlasting love, and I love Him because He first 
loved me. I am persuaded He will not leave me 
now, and I am full of joy at the thought of leaving 
this sinful world to be for ever with my Saviour.' " 
Some of the companions of this young soldier re- 
marking that they never heard him mention the 
name of the Saviour without tears, and a missionary 
afterwards, noticing the same, having asked how it 
was, he replied, " How can I do otherwise than feel, 
when I mention the name of that beloved Saviour who 
suffered and died on the cross for me ? " With such 
devout soldiers in the army, we cease to wonder that 
the military posts in Madagascar became centres of 
Christian light and blessing to many in the surround- 
ing country. 



114 



CHAPTEE V. 

Arrest of Rafaravavy — Confession of Paul before the judges— A 
Christian's feelings on the way to execution— Fearful confla- 
gration in the city — Postponement of Rafaravavy's execution 
—Arrest, examination, and execution of the second martyr — 
Torture of his wife — Flight of Rafaravavy and her companions 
—Perils and suffering— Honesty of Christian slaves — Flight 
of the Christians to Tamatave— Safe embarkation — Their song 
of praise to God — Welcomes in London and among the 
churches in England — Their return to Mauritius— Capture, 
torture, and execution of the praying people in the capital — 
Friendship among the Christians — Condition of the fugitives 
in Madagascar. 

While the Christian messengers from the afflicted 
church at the capital, and the missionary who had 
come to sympathize with them, were engaged on the 
coast in affectionate conference and prayer, their 
enemies at the capital, influenced apparently by the 
hope of profit, were active in their efforts to secure 
their condemnation. Two women, one of them re- 
lated to the Christians, accused ten of the latter of 
meeting on the Sunday for prayer at the house of 
Eafaravavy. The chief officer of the queen, to whom 
the judges carried the accusation, declared with an 
oath, " Then they shall die ! for they despise the 
queen's law." They were all immediately arrested. 



ARREST OF THE CHRISTIANS. 115 

Officers were repeatedly sent to Eafaravavy, chiefly 
to discover her associates, stating on one occasion 
that the queen knew who her companions were, but 
wished to give her the opportunity of telling the 
whole truth.* 

This benevolent woman, careful of the lives of her 
fellow-Christians, answered, " If, as you say, the queen 
knows as well as I do, why do you ask me again ? " 
They then brought one of her companions who had 
confessed that she prayed with her, and when con- 
fronted with her Eafaravavy said, " We have prayed 
together ; we do not deny it ; " and when further 
asked, " Where have you prayed ? " she replied, " In 
our own houses, and in many other places. Wher- 
ever we went we endeavoured to remember God, and 
pray to Him/' On being asked if they had not met 
for prayer at Akatso, a mountain, they answered, 
" Yes, but not there only. Wherever we went we 
remembered God, in the house and out of doors, in 
the town and in the country, or on the mountains." 

The officers then proceeded to the other Christians 
already in prison, chiefly for the purpose of inducing 
them to name those not yet accused. They falsely 
told a young woman whose name was Ea-sa-la-ma, 
that the others had already given the names of all 
the Christians, so that it would be of no avail for 
her to refuse to mention those she knew. Influenced 
by this specious declaration, Easalama mentioned the 
names of seven who had not before been impeached, 
and these, amongst others esteemed and beloved, 

* The usual penalty was diminished when confession was made. 



116 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

included Kaintaiheva,, the diviner, known among the 
Christians as Paul. The seven were immediately 
apprehended, and the declarations — confessions, as 
they were called — of the whole were then laid before 
the queen. 

The answer which the aged Paul had given to 
the judges afforded but little ground for his con- 
demnation. He said, "I have certainly prayed to 
that God who created me, and has supported me, 
and is Himself the source of all good, to make me 
a good man. I prayed that He would bless the 
queen, and give her true happiness in this world, 
and in that which is to come. I asked Him to bless 
the officers and judges, and all the people, to make 
them good, so that there might be no more brigands 
and liars, and that God would make all the people 
wise and good." No wonder that some of the officers 
said there was no evil, but good in such praying. 
When the officers retired to confer on the course 
they should pursue towards these people, one of 
their number adduced the statement of Paul on 
behalf of the Christians, saying, " Let us do nothing 
rashly, lest we advise the queen to shed innocent 
blood. What is their guilt ?" The chief officer replied, 
" They pray to Jehovah, to Jesus, to Christ ; " and 
when one reasonable man said, " These may be with 
them but different names for one God, as we have 
several names for God," the minister replied, " The 
queen has forbidden any to pray to Jehovah, and 
having despised the commandments of the queen, 
they are guilty." 



RAFARAVAVY CONDUCTED TO PRISON. 117 

Fourteen days longer the Christians and their 
friends were kept in great anxiety, then an order 
was sent to the people in the market to go and seize 
the property of Eafaravavy. The first intimation 
which she received of danger was the rush of the 
rabble into her dwelling, seizing everything therein, 
pulling down the building, and carrying every 
part of it away. Meanwhile, four of the royal 
guard, usually employed in the execution of criminals, 
ordered Eafaravavy to follow them ; and when she 
asked whither they were leading her, the answer 
was, " The queen knows what to do with you." They 
led her along the road leading to Ambohipotsy, where 
criminals were usually put to death; she therefore 
concluded that orders had been given for her execution. 
But the fear of death was removed, and the prayer of 
Stephen was repeatedly uttered by the way. In 
calling those eventful moments to her recollection 
she afterwards said, that she felt as if all relating to 
earth was ended, and wished her spirit was liberated 
from her body. One beloved Christian approached 
near enough for her to speak to him, and she asked 
him privately to go with her to the end, that if she 
were strengthened to bear testimony to the presence 
of Christ in her last moments, it might encourage 
any who might have to follow. He answered, " I 
shall not leave you, dear sister. Cleave to Him on 
whom you have built your hope." Another dear 
friend had before said, " Fear not, beloved sister ; 
though there may be affliction here, there is rest in 
heaven." Shortly afterwards they entered a house 



118 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

belonging to one of the subordinates of the com- 
mander-in-chief, where she was bound in fetters, 
called by a name which signifies "causing many- 
tears." One of the soldiers said to the smith who was 
riveting these on her limbs, "Do not make them too 
fast. It will be difficult to take them off, and she 
is to be executed at cock-crow to-morrow," the still 
and quiet hour often chosen for inflicting death on 
criminals. 

But during the solemn darkness of those inter- 
vening hours of night the city was roused from its 
slumbers, and thrown into the wildest confusion of 
dismay, by the bursting out of a fierce conflagration, 
which burned down many of the dry, closely packed 
wood and thatch houses, and spread the greatest 
consternation among the people. The morning was 
dark, and clouds drifted across the sky, bearing in- 
numerable fragments of burning material over the 
palace yard, and filling the minds of the beholders 
with terror. The officer in charge of the city, on 
seeing the confusion created by the fire, had issued 
an order to discontinue government service; and 
although the executioners had previously received 
instructions to put their prisoner to death, they now 
delayed the execution of the sentence until further 
orders. In reference to this occurrence one of the 
natives was afterwards heard to remark, " God is 
indeed the sovereign of life ! " 

On the day when Eafaravavy was taken to be put 
to death, the remaining prisoners were distributed 
amongst the chief officers or their subordinates. 



ARREST BY TSITIALAINGIA. 119 

Paul and Eafaravavy were placed in irons in separate 
houses, those two being considered leaders of the 
Christians. At the same time the officers and people 
were collected to hear the message of the queen, in 
which she said, " I will reduce them to perpetual 
slavery now. If I find out that they have com- 
panions, and have assembled in private houses, I will 
put them to death whenever they are accused." 

Among the ten Christians in confinement was 
Easalama, the Christian woman whom the falsehood 
of the officers had betrayed into revealing the names 
of seven of the Christians, who were now her fellow- 
prisoners. A relative having expressed her surprise 
that she should have accused her friends, since their 
praying had been unknown to the government until 
she mentioned them, she was deeply grieved on thus 
learning that she had been the cause of their arrest ; 
and she was overheard to express her astonishment 
that the people of God, who had neither excited 
rebellion, nor stolen property, nor spoken ill of any 
one, should be reduced to perpetual slavery. She 
was also heard to say that she was not afraid when 
the Tsitialaingia came to her house, but rather 
rejoiced that she was counted worthy to suffer 
affliction for believing in Jesus ; adding, " I have 
hope of life in heaven." Tsitialaingia, signifying 
" hater of lies," is the name of a round-headed silver 
lance, on which the name of the queen is engraved,* 
and also of the officer by whom it is carried. It is 

* In the representation of Malagasy spears on the next page, that 
in the centre shows the form of Tsitialaingia. 



120 



THE MARTYR CHURCH. 



the representative or emblem of the power of the 
queen, and seems to be regarded as endowed with 
supernatural means of detecting falsehood. It is 
borne by officers sent to 
arrest persons suspected or 
accused of crimes against 
the sovereign, and who are 
then said to be arrested by 
Tsitialaingia. The haft as 
well as the head of the spear 
or lance is of silver. When 
the officers bearing this spear 
reached the house of an 
accused person, the spear 
itself was fixed in the door- 
way, and as long as it re- 
mained in that position no 
one could enter or leave the 
house. 

The offensive part of Easa- 

lama's words was reported to 

the commander-in-chief, who 

commended the informer, 

and ordered the prisoner, who 

continued singing hymns, to 

be put in irons, and while thus 

suffering to be beaten. She 

said, " My life shall go for 

my companions. You say Eafaravavy will be put to 

death ; but no, she will not die. I shall be killed 

instead of her/' Her extreme agitation of mind, 




THE FIRST MARTYR. 121 

added to the feebleness of body produced by trie 
cruel beating and severe sufferings, caused her 
friends to think that perhaps, for a short season, her 
mind scarcely retained its balance ; but it was per- 
fectly restored afterwards. She was ordered for 
execution the next morning, and on the previous 
afternoon was put in irons, which, being fastened to 
the feet, hands, knees, and neck, confined the whole 
body in a position of excruciating pain. In the 
early morning she saug hymns as she was borne 
along to the place of execution, expressing her joy 
in the knowledge of the gospel; and, on passing 
the chapel in which she had been baptized, she ex- 
claimed, " There I heard the words of the Saviour." 
After being borne more than a mile farther, she 
reached the fatal spot, a broad dry shallow fosse or 
ditch, strewn with the bones of previous criminals, 
outside what was formerly a fortification, at the 
southern extremity of the mountain on which the 
city stands. Two or three hundred feet below this 
Malagasy Golgotha stretches the wide plain, spotted 
with villages, verdant with rice-fields, and irrigated 
by streams from the Ikiopa, which, issuing from the 
lofty Ankaratra, almost encircles the capital in its 
course to the sea on the west. 

Here, permission being granted her to pray, Basa- 
lama calmly knelt on the earth, committed her spirit 
into the hands of her Eedeemer, and fell with the 
executioners' spears buried in her body. Earth and 
hell had done their worst. Some few of the by- 
standers, it was reported, cried out, "Where is the 



122 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

God she prayed to, that He does not save her now V 
Others were moved to pity for one whom they 
deemed an innocent sufferer; and the heathen 
executioners repeatedly declared, "There is some 
charm in the religion of the white people which, 
takes away the fear of death." Her intimate com- 
panions were in prison or concealment, but one 
faithful and loving friend who witnessed her calm 
and peaceful death, when he returned, exclaimed, 
"If I might die so tranquil and happy a death, I 
would willingly die for the Saviour too." So suffered, 
on the fourteenth day of August, 1837,* Easalama, 
the first who died for Christ of the Martyr 
Church of Madagascar, which, in its early infancy, 
thus received its baptism of blood. Such were the 
calm, quiet, but glorious triumphs of the grace and 
love of Christ which were witnessed in this world. 
But how dim and feeble, how utterly beyond all con- 
ception here, would be the vision which opened 
before the liberated spirit, and the transport which 
would fill the ransomed soul, when, set free by the 
executioner's spear, it was "absent from the body, 
present with the Lord"! 

After the death of Easalama, the other Christians 
under arrest, with two who had been absent at 
Tamatave when accused, were consigned to irredeem- 
able slavery, but their wives and children were allowed 
to be redeemed by their friends. Two hundred, in all, 
were enslaved on this occasion. The aged Paul, who 

* Letter from Rev. D. Johns, Missionary Magazine, February, 
1838. 



EAFARAVAVY SOLD. 123 

had been heavily ironed night and day, and guarded 
as a felon, became a slave of the chief minister, who 
sent him to field-work with four other Christian 
slaves. They were in the rice-fields all day and in 
irons all night, but had a hut to themselves ; and the 
venerable servant of Christ proved a great source of 
consolation to his fellow-slaves, often repeating to 
them the forty-sixth Psalm, which he had committed 
to memory, and leading their minds to their divine 
and loving Saviour. 

Eafaravavy, who had now been some months in 
irons, constantly guarded by soldiers, was, by an 
order of the queen, sold in the public market to the 
chief military officer; and he placed her in the 
charge of one of his aides-de-camp, who was a 
relative, and who treated her kindly, giving her 
liberty to go and come, so that her work was not 
neglected. During this period she had the happi- 
ness of spending much time with her husband, to 
whom she was greatly attached. He was a colonel 
in the army on the west coast, and having heard of 
her circumstances he obtained leave of absence for a 
few months to come to the capital. 

Eafaralahy, a young man about two-and-twenty 
years of age, who had accompanied Eafaravavy herself, 
when it was supposed she was being carried forth to 
execution, and had witnessed the tranquil death of 
Easalama, had been accustomed to receive a number 
of the Christians at his house, which was nearly two 
miles from the capital, for reading and prayer; and 
Eafaravavy, after her liberation, soon joined this 



124 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

little band of Christians. An apostate from the 
faith, a former teacher and friend of Eafaralahy, who 
had become his debtor for a sum of money, when 
asked to pay it, went immediately and accused his 
friend and benefactor to the queen's minister of 
holding meetings for religious worship in his house, 
giving the names of twelve persons who were accus- 
tomed to meet with him. Eafaralahy was arrested 
and put in irons, every effort being made to induce 
him to reveal the names of his companions. But he 
simply replied, " I am here, I have done it. Let the 
queen do as she pleases with me, I will not accuse 
my friends." 

After being confined in heavy irons for three days 
he was taken out for execution. On the way he 
spoke to the officers of the love and mercy of Christ, 
and of his own happiness in the prospect of so soon 
seeing that divine Eedeemer who had loved him and 
died to save his soul. Having reached the place of 
execution, the same spot on which Easalama, nearly 
twelve months before, had suffered, he spent the last 
moments of his life in supplication for his country 
and his persecuted brethren, and in commending his 
soul to his Saviour. As he rose from his knees the 
executioners were preparing, as was customary, to 
throw him on the ground, when he said that was 
needless, he was prepared to die ; and quietly laying 
himself down he was instantly put to death, his 
friends being afterwards allowed to inter his body 
in the ancestral grave. 

Immediately after the execution of Eafaralahy, 



FLIGHT OF RAFARAVAVY. 125 

his young wife, a quiet, timid woman, whom the 
Christians regarded as a believer in Christ, and his 
Christian attendant, were seized, bound, cruelly flogged, 
and threatened with severer punishment unless they 
revealed Eafaralahy's associates. They bore this 
torture until, overcome with pain, terror, and exhaus- 
tion, their power of endurance gave way, and they 
mentioned the names of those who had been present 
at the meetings for worship. 

On the same day, at a short distance from the 
capital, in the quiet dwelling of a respectable civilian, 
three Christian women, all equally ignorant of the death 
and suffering which had been inflicted on their friends, 
were conversing with the master of the house, when 
a slave suddenly entered and gave a note to Eafara- 
vavy, one of the three females. The countenance of 
the reader changed as she read and declared to her 
friends that Eafaralahy had been put to death, and 
his wife and companion tortured until the names of 
his companions had been revealed, including her own 
and the two friends then with her. Instant flight 
afforded the only possibility of escaping from certain 
death ; and the three Christian women, leaving the 
house of their friend, travelled in company towards 
the capital. At the foot of Ambohipotsy, the place 
of execution, they stopped, united in prayer, bade 
each other farewell, and taking different paths, sepa- 
rated, not expecting to meet again on earth. The 
two women fled to distant parts of the country, and 
were not heard of for some time afterwards. 

Eafaravavy entered the city, and after conference 



126 THE MARTYR CHUECH. 

and prayer with four of her friends, and sending in 
search of Paul and others involved in equal peril, 
they left the city at midnight. How imminent had 
heen their danger they did not know until after- 
wards. A warrant for the death of Eafaravavy had 
been prepared the same evening, and the next 
morning the officers to whom it was confided had 
gone to the house of her master where she resided, 
and to every other house which she was known to 
visit, in order to seize and convey her to execu- 
tion. Paul, and a nephew of Eafaravavy, an eminent 
Christian, were afterwards arrested and put in irons ; 
but the government delayed putting them to death 
in hopes of finding Eafaravavy and her friend, and 
of striking greater terror into the minds of the 
people by executing at one time four of the Christian 
leaders. 

Leaving the city under the darkness of midnight 
the fugitives travelled towards the west, and con- 
tinuing their journey by the least frequented roads, 
they reached in the evening of the following day 
Itanimanina, more than forty miles from the capital, 
where the cordial welcome of friends added to the 
grateful joy which their preservation inspired. They 
had not long shared the protection and hospitality thus 
afforded, when a friend in the service of the govern- 
ment arrived to invite some of the Christians to seek 
shelter with him in a forest to the eastward of Am- 
batomanga, on the opposite side of the capital. From 
him they learned that their escape had caused a great 
stir in the capital, and that soldiers had been sent 



PERILOUS SHELTER. 127 

out in every direction to search for them. David, 
his wife, and Joseph returned with their friend to 
seek shelter in the forest. Finding when they 
reached the city that David's wife had not been 
accused, she remained there with her friends, while 
her husband and his companion proceeded to the 
forest. These men were distinguished Christians 
who had been sold into slavery on account of their 
faith, and were employed by their masters as traders, 
as was also another of those now under accusation. 
They had spent the last hours before their flight in 
packing up the goods belonging to their masters, 
making out clear accounts of all they had sold, putting 
the money in the package, and leaving it properly 
addressed for their masters. One of these, a high 
officer of the government, on opening the package 
and finding the property and money, was astonished, 
and said, " It is not customary for slaves when they 
run away to send back their masters' property. These 
people would make excellent servants if it were not 
for their praying ." 

Here, by moving from place to place for security, 
they remained for about three months, occasionally 
suffering for want of food, as their friend carried, 
most of the rice on which they subsisted on his back 
from the capital, a distance of forty miles. Simeon, 
who was concealed for many weeks in a sort of stage 
or place for cooking utensils, built over the fireplace, 
in a native house near the city, afterwards shared 
their safety in the forest, and their suffering from 
scarcity of food. 



128 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

With the kind friends who had opened their doors 
to the Christian fugitives, Eafaravavy found shelter 
for several weeks, sleeping under their roof at night, 
but retiring for concealment before daylight every 
morning to the hollows of an adjacent mountain. 
Venturing to return one evening before dark she was 
discovered, and her hiding-place reported to the chief 
minister at the capital, who sent eight soldiers to 
apprehend her. So unconscious was their victim, 
that two of the soldiers were within a minute or two 
of entering the house before its inmates had the 
slightest intimation of their approach, and Eafara- 
vavy had only time to conceal herself behind a mat 
before they entered, stated their business, and in- 
quired where she was. Every syllable they uttered 
she heard, and trembled lest her loud breathing 
should betray her. After a lengthened conversation 
the owner of the house went out, and the men, sup- 
posing he had gone to inform Eafaravavy, followed 
him, and thus allowed time for their victim to escape 
by another way. 

The fact of affording shelter to the Christian fugi- 
tives involved their protectors in equal peril; and 
the arrival of the soldiers in the district rendering 
their own dwelling no longer safe, they became home- 
less wanderers with their friends. The perils through 
which they passed, through the weary and anxious 
weeks while hiding for their lives, rendered their 
privations and sufferings still more distressing. 
Sometimes they found that the soldiers had gone 
before them, leaving orders with the head men of the 



PRESERVATION AMID DANGERS. 129 

village to apprehend any women not belonging to 
that part of the country who might come amongst 
them. At other times the soldiers would be follow- 
ing along the same road, or a number would come 
upon them suddenly, causing some to run into the 
bush, and those unable to fly to seek concealment by 
plunging into some bog which might be near, in 
which they sometimes sunk so deep as to be unable 
to extricate themselves without help. Sometimes 
the soldiers would halt for the night in a village, 
beyond which, in order to avoid suspicion, the 
Christians did not proceed until the early morning, 
or, as they expressed it, before the light enabled 
one to " see the colour of the cattle." At one time 
Bafaravavy was concealed in an empty room with 
an unfastened door, before which while the soldiers 
who searched the house were standing, the master of 
the house, a friend of the Christians, succeeded in 
diverting their attention for a few moments in another 
direction, and thus the Christian escaped. 

At times they were drenched by the falling sheets 
of tropical rain on the barren mountains over which 
they travelled in order to avoid being seen. Some- 
times they slept among the large stones and boulders 
by the sides of the rivers, or lay concealed among the 
tall grass on the flat top of some ancient sepulchre. 
As they frequently travelled by night, they met with 
brigands and robbers, and on one occasion discovered 
that they had taken shelter in one of their caverns. 
Their preservation amidst dangers so imminent, dur- 
ing the three months in which they were wanderers in 
K 



130 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

the country west of Antananarivo impressedthem deeply 
with a sense of the ceaseless protection of their heavenly 
Father, andinspired hopes of their ultimate deliverance. 
Not less remarkable and cheering was the evidence, 
which this season of exposure and danger revealed, 
of the extent and value of the influence which the 
Christian mission at the capital had spread over the 
country — the fruit of the past, the seed of the future. 
Except when inspecting the schools established by 
the government, the missionaries had seldom travelled 
beyond the suburbs. The first halting-place of the 
Christians who fled from the city, at the period now 
under review, was nearly fifty miles distant, yet they 
found Christian families who welcomed and sheltered 
them. And often during their wanderings over the 
western portion of Ankova, as well as during their 
subsequent journey to the eastern coast, they found 
Christian residents where none were known or ex- 
pected, and more frequently in outlying houses than 
in the villages. Some of these Christians possessed 
portions of the Scriptures, and were able to read 
them. At one place these books of the Christians 
were preserved in a box, and buried in the ground. 
Even at the solitary houses it was found that the 
Sabbath was kept ; and in some instances members 
of families more or less related to each other, but 
residing several miles apart, came together on the 
Sunday to unite in Christian worship. To the 
hunted Christians such gatherings were indeed like 
fountains in the desert, and from one to another they 
went as from strength to strength. 



A HOSPITABLE HOUSE. 131 

Equally cheering was the holy bond of brotherhood 
which united the Christians, thus scattered among the 
heathen, to each other in mutual confidence and love, 
alike in joy and in sorrow. Nor was the spontaneous 
affection with which they welcomed, sheltered, and 
helped on their way the brethren fleeing for their 
lives, less noble and generous. Late one evening, on 
entering a village, and hearing in one of the houses 
a great noise as of many persons talking, the fugitives 
passed quietly on to the house of a female friend, 
who was struck dumb by their appearance, but at 
length told them that soldiers were seeking them in 
every direction, that a party of them were at that 
time in the village, and in the very house in which 
they had heard the noise as they passed. "And 
where," asked this true friend in their hour of need, 
" shall I hide you to-night and to-morrow morning?" 
She afterwards concealed them in a pit near her 
house, the mouth of which was covered with thorn 
bushes. They remained there a night and a day, 
and then removed to a plantation of manioc, belong- 
ing also to their friend, where they found shelter for 
several days and nights. One day they saw, from 
this place of concealment, the accuser of Eafaralahy 
and eight soldiers pass close by in search of them ; 
but they remained undiscovered. After continuing 
here ten or twelve days, they left their protector and 
friend, to proceed to the residence of another friend 
a few miles distant. How honourable to the feelings 
and true to the spirit of Christianity was the conduct of 
this truly faithful woman, who, though she knew that 



132 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

her own life was imperilled by affording shelter to 
her fellow-Christians, did not recommend them to 
seek safety elsewhere, but unhesitatingly accepted 
the danger that she might honour her Saviour by 
protecting the lives of His people ! 

Another friend who had been deeply anxious, 
knowing how many were hunting for their lives, 
burst into tears of joy on their arrival at his dwell- 
ing, and provided for their safety. While sharing 
the hospitality and protection of this generous 
Christian family, they heard that Mr. Johns was at 
Tamatave ; and as this offered a prospect of escape, 
they returned to the capital, which they reached in 
three days. Here, with the advice of friends, Rafa- 
ravavy and her companion Sarah remained in con- 
cealment, while the husband of the latter, with 
another Christian, set out for the eastern coast, in 
order to confer with Mr. Johns, if still there, on the 
possibility of their escaping from the country. 
Acting on the advice of Christians at Antananarivo, 
Mr. Johns had remained at Tamatave ; he welcomed 
his Christian brethren, and, with a valuable friend, 
arranged their escape from the island. This friend 
placed the messenger from Eafaravavy in a place of 
safety at a distance from Tamatave, and sent his 
fellow-Christian back with letters to the fugitives 
to hasten to the village on the coast where their 
companion was concealed. 

Notwithstanding all the aid their friend could 
give, those concealed in the forest suffered so much 
from exposure, sickness and hunger, that they made 




From _l>!i»lo<jfa],Vtiud .Vatch'Jn/ 1! ev. W.Ellis. 

THE TRAVELLER'S TREE (Uremia Speciosa), 
Showing the mode of obtaining water. 



JOUENEY TO TAMATAVE. 133 

their way by short stages to the capital, where they 
obtained food and shelter. When the messenger 
from the coast returned with a letter to the Christians 
advising them to attempt to reach Tamatave, Ea- 
faravavy, Kazafy, and three others condemned to 
death on account of their faith, left their companions, 
and, accompanied by two friends as servants, com- 
menced their last, and in some respects most dangerous 
journey. They did not venture, for four days and 
nights, to enter any house. Some of them were 
recognised on the road. Their steps at other times 
were so closely followed by travellers along the same- 
road, as to force upon them the impression that they 
were either known or suspected, and were liable to 
be apprehended if not actually put to death. 

Two days' journey had brought them to the precipi- 
tous Angova pass, after which they travelled through 
the rugged forest, the country of the beautiful rofia 
palm and the traveller's tree. On reaching Andevo- 
ranto, on the coast, their money being insufficient to 
hire a canoe and proceed by water, they travelled along 
the margin of the sea or the lakes, and walked along 
the deep, soft, sandy beach, until they approached the 
port of Tamatave, where, concealing themselves in the 
jungle, they sent the servants with a note to their 
friend residing there. They knew that in the neigh- 
bourhood of the port the soldiers were constantly 
passing, and the two days thus spent were among 
the most intensely anxious and exhausting they had 
ever known, for they had been three days without 
food. Their trust was in God, and they were not 



134 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

disappointed. When the messengers returned, the 
smile on their countenances revealed their success. 
Their friend was waiting for them, and would come 
in a canoe for them after dark. 

The sun had not set when they proceeded to the 
appointed rendezvous. Shortly afterwards their friend 
came, and conveyed them in his canoe safely to his 
dwelling. They breathed more freely when they 
found themselves within protecting walls and be- 
neath a sheltering roof; but felt scarcely assured of 
the reality of their position and treatment, so dif- 
ferent from those which had marked every waking 
hour of the time since they had parted from their 
friends at the capital. The friend whom God had 
here raised up for their protection, was a military 
officer as well as a local judge, secretly also a believer 
in Christ ; and he incurred equal risk with the fugi- 
tives by the shelter and help which he now rendered 
them. He received them with sincere kindness, set 
food before them, and they united together in reading 
God's word, and in rendering praise to their divine 
Protector. He informed them that, in consequence 
of arrangements with Mr. Johns, he expected a ship, 
and would see them safe on board. He told them 
also that his official engagements at the port would 
not allow him to be much with them, but he would 
leave them in charge of his nephew, who would 
supply their wants ; and when he left in the morning, 
he directed that they should hold themselves in 
readiness to come at any time he might send for 
them. When the ship arrived, and had taken in her 



PKAISE FOR DELIVERANCE. 135 

cargo, their friend sent a confidential messenger to 
tell them to cut their hair, and follow the guide he 
had sent to the port. The darkness of night was 
descending when they left the house and proceeded 
to the jungle near the sea, where their guide left them 
with anxiously palpitating hearts, while he informed 
those who were to take them to the ship. Friends soon 
came with a suit of sailors' clothes for each, which they 
put on in the bush, while another friend went to the 
landing-place to divert the attention of the guards. 

The moment had now arrived when life or death 
seemed to depend upon the slightest movement. 
Noiselessly, and with almost suppressed breath, they 
proceeded to the water's edge, entered the boat, pushed 
off from the shore, passed over the rippling waters 
of the bay, and reached the ship. As soon as the 
last of the Christians was safely, on the deck, the 
captain, rubbing his hands, addressed to them the 
welcome and assuring words of their own language, 
"Efa kabary" (finished is the business, or accom- 
plished is the object). The Christians, as soon as 
they could realize their actual safety, and could 
command their feelings, asked permission to offer a 
song of praise to God for their deliverance, which 
being granted, the sailors and the captain listened 
with evident pleasure, while standing together on the 
deck the Christians thus gave expression to their 
devout and grateful feelings. The cool, fresh breeze 
from the land in the early morning wafted the ship 
out of harbour, and they reached Mauritius in safety 
on the 14th of October, 1838. 



136 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

In about a month this little party were followed 
by the generous Christian friend who had arranged for 
their escape, and who afterwards found that neither 
his own life nor that of his nephew was safe in Mada- 
gascar, in consequence of the aid he had rendered 
to the Christians. By Mr. Johns, by their country- 
men, by Mr. Le Brun, and other Christian friends, 
the liveliest gratitude was manifested on behalf of 
the rescued Christians, who afterwards proceeded, by 
way of the Cape of Good Hope, to England. Arriving 
in May, 1839, they were affectionately welcomed by 
the directors of the London Missionary Society, as 
well as afterwards by the friends of missions at a 
large and deeply interesting meeting in Exeter Hall. 

Several of the Malagasy Christians had the privi- 
lege of becoming acquainted with a number of the 
friends of missions in London ; they also visited, in 
company with one of their teachers, several of the 
churches in the country, and were not only encou- 
raged by the kind interest manifested on behalf of 
Madagascar, but they secured the respect and esteem 
of those in our own country who witnessed their 
consistent spirit and deportment. Eafaravavy and 
Eazafy deeply interested those of their own sex who, 
during their short stay in England, made their ac- 
quaintance. Both had been in comfortable circum- 
stances in their own country. Eafaravavy inherited 
property, with which she served God ; and her hus- 
band was a colonel in the army. Eazafy's husband 
was a respected civilian. Both were distinguished, 
especially the former, by intelligence, urbanity, gen- 



RETURN OF THE EEFUGEES TO MAURITIUS. 137 

tleness of demeanour, benevolence, and sincerity of 
character. All these qualities, purified and elevated 
by the fear and love of God, when associated with 
the imprisonment, torture, privation, and danger 
which these Christian women had suffered on ac- 
count of their faith, made a deep impression on the 
minds of their friends, and is cherished still. They 
were witnesses for the gospel in Madagascar, and 
earnests of its future triumphs. 

The Malagasy Christians, accompanied by Mrs. 
Johns, returned to Mauritius early in 1842, where 
a piece of ground was purchased at Moka, and a house 
built, in which she resided until her death. Here 
she gathered around her the destitute refugees from 
her own country, furnishing for them a secure and 
quiet home, while endeavouring by her teaching, ex- 
ample, and benevolence, to bring them to believe and 
trust in the Saviour, whose presence and blessing she 
had herself so largely experienced. Since her death 
her place has been a home for Malagasy Christians, 
as well as a missionary station, where Simeon, the 
last survivor of the refugees, still resides, labouring 
faithfully for the benefit of his countrymen. Mr. 
Johns, with whom Simeon had returned to Mauritius, 
maintained affectionate intercourse by letter with 
the Christians at the capital of Madagascar, and 
made frequent voyages to different parts of the coast, 
in the hope of saving some of them ; but the diffi- 
culties proved insuperable, and in 1843 he sank 
under the influence of fever, fatigue, and anxiety. 
In his death the Society lost a faithful missionary 



138 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

and the native Christians a firm, true, and inde- 
fatigable friend. 

Although a number of those who were seized after 
the public execution of Eafaralahy had been sold 
into permanent slavery, all these did not escape death. 
Eavahiny (the stranger), a young woman of consider- 
able personal attractions, whom her husband had 
already divorced on account of her having become a 
Christian, was, at the time referred to/ sold into 
slavery for life. Her father had for the same reason 
denied her the shelter of his roof. Her relations, all 
heathen, feeling indignant at her abandonment of 
the religion of her country, and disgraced by her 
present servile condition, endeavoured to compass 
her death. They applied to the chief officer of the 
queen to receive her among his slaves or his concu- 
bines, which required that she should be previously 
tried by the tangena, to ascertain whether she prac- 
tised witchcraft, or used charms, which they pretended 
were possessed by the Christians. Though strongly 
opposed to the ordeal on account of the treachery 
exercised in its administration, she was forced to 
drink the poison, and perished under its effects — the 
third victim of the Martyr Church of Madagascar to 
the fierce hatred of the idolaters. 

Shortly after this three Christian females, two of 
them wives of the companions of Eafaravavy, were 
accused of meeting together for prayer. The officer 
sent in the evening to apprehend them, found two of 
them reading the Scriptures. One of them escaped, and 
while the man was beating the other whom he had 



CONTINUED PEESECUTION. 139 

secured, her Bible fell from her dress. She was then 
taken to his house, and again beaten by six men to 
force her to reveal the names of her companions. 
This savage treatment of the woman failing to secure 
their object, she was taken next morning before the 
chief officer of the queen, and on refusing to give 
information about those who had associated with her 
in reading and prayer, she was ordered to be flogged 
until she did so. She bore the anguish and indignity 
of the public laceration of her body with unfaltering 
fidelity to her fellow-Christians, until, faint with pain 
and loss of blood, she swooned at the feet of her 
brutal torturers. After her recovery she was sold 
into irredeemable slavery, and was ordered to take 
the tangena, but saved her life by escaping before 
it had been administered. Those accused at the 
same time fled to the uninhabited parts of the 
country, and were not afterwards heard of. 

The escape of the victims seemed to increase the 
destructive rage of their persecutors, and orders were 
issued by the queen to the soldiers sent in search of 
them, to bind hand and foot any whom they might 
find, to dig a pit on the spot, hurl them head foremost 
into the pit, and to pour boiling water upon them until 
they ceased to live. They were then to fill up the 
pit with earth, and continue their search for others. 
The reason assigned for this revolting barbarity in 
destroying the Christians wherever they might be 
seized, was the pretence that they could not have 
escaped so often had they not possessed some power- 
ful charm, which might be exercised for evil to others, 



140 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

and which rendered it dangerous to bring them to 
the capital even for trial. 

We have seen, in the instance above related, that 
the reception of Christianity, in the judgment of the 
heathen, severed the closest ties of social life, causing 
the husband to repudiate his wife and the father to 
expel his daughter from his house. On the other 
hand, Christianity exalted friendship to something 
far above the interchange of the ordinary courtesies 
and attentions of social life, making it a reality and 
a bond, than which no earthly tie was stronger or 
more lasting. Many of the Christians belonged to 
different clans, dwelt in different parts of the country, or 
occupied different ranks in society; but the possession 
of a common faith, the trust in one Saviour, the hope 
of one heaven, made their interest in each other here 
a proof of vital union unknown in the country before. 

When Eafaravavy and her companions travelled 
forty or fifty miles from her home before seeking 
help or rest, they were received, sheltered, and 
provided for as if they had been the nearest relatives. 

One of the marvels and causes of offence to the 
heathen was that the Christians were all of one mind, 
and always helped one another; and the trials 
through which they were now passing called into 
practical exercise, intensified, and purified the bonds 
of holy union by which they were united in love and 
interest in each other's welfare. 

The number of Christians spread over the country 
was increased by those whom the growing severity of 
persecution forced to fly from their homes in the 



"FAREWELL TILL DEATH." 141 

city, to seek shelter and food at a distance, or perish. 
All were deeply affected by the barbarous orders 
given to those sent out to seek and destroy them, 
" We have heard," was their remark, in a letter sent 
to one of the missionaries about this time, " of the 
orders of the queen respecting us, and the manner 
in which we are to be put to death if discovered. 
We still confide in the compassion of the Saviour. 
Can you do anything to rescue us ? We think of 
the death awaiting us. 'The spirit is willing, but 
the flesh is weak.' " 

In another letter to Mr. Johns they observe, " We 
state to you our condition, that, if possible, you may 
do something to relieve us. We say ' if possible,' for 
our Saviour himself employed this expression in His 
prayer to His Father, — ' If it be possible, let this cup 
pass from Me ! ' " The brief postscript to this letter 
was, " Please send us some books ; and farewell till 



These are not the only occasions on which we 
may observe how the Christians habitually felt that 
every parting might be "till death." The three 
women, after praying together at the foot of Ambohi- 
potsy before they separated, said, " Now we enter the 
city, then to the place of execution, where all will 
end with us in this world." The affecting language 
of David to Jonathan, when flying from Saul, " There 
is but a step between me and death," did but express 
the Christians' constant sense of the price at which 
they held their faith. Nothing confounded their 
persecutors more than the passive strength of the 



142 THE MAETYR CHURCH. 

believers under suffering and death. The heathen 
knew of nothing stronger than the fear of death. 
They saw the Christians calmly meeting it rather 
than renounce Christ. The heathen acknowledged 
that the power which sustained the Christians was 
more than human, and when they heard the execu- 
tioners declare that the new religion made those who 
received it not afraid of death, many would conclude 
that the foundation of their faith was, as the Chris- 
tians testified, divine and true. 



143 



CHAPTER VI. 

Attempt of the Christians to reach, the coast — Their capture on the 
road — Remarkable escape of two prisoners — Execution of the 
rest — Influence of public executions on the people — Extreme 
affection of the Christian captives, and cheerful death of 
Christians at Vonizongo — Savage execution of Raharo and 
his friends — Death of Rev. David Johns — The Prince Royal's 
friendship to the Christians — His efforts in their favour — Kind- 
ness of Prince Ramonja — Severe persecution in 1849 — Noble 
confession of the Christians — The faithful Ranivo — The burning 
of the nobles— The hurling over the precipice of the Christians 
— Vast number punished. 

At the hour of midnight, when the refugees who 
came to England were leaving the capital, Eafara- 
vavy, disguised as a slave, went to the prison to take 
a last farewell of a beloved nephew who had been 
six months in chains. She found him sleeping in 
his fetters, and fearing her voice might betray her 
to his keepers, she silently pressed his manacled 
hand, and quietly departed. The young man, who 
was under condemnation as one of the leaders among 
the Christians, was deeply affected when made ac- 
quainted with this visit, the proof of the affection 
of one whom he never expected to meet again in 
this world. Others also, including Paul, were in 
prison, and some in concealment. Paul and his 
companion, being a short time afterwards declared 



144 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

innocent by the tangena, were set at liberty, but the 
former, on hearing that it was intended to put him to 
death secretly, fled and concealed himself. 

Near the close of 1839, Joshua, an intelligent 
and eminently devoted minister among the Christians, 
was with eight companions discovered praying, and 
being threatened with the tangena, fled, and joined 
those in concealment, some of whom had been in 
peril for the last two years, and whose number now 
amounted to sixteen. Mr. Baker, and other friends 
in Mauritius, generously sent money for their sup- 
port; Mr. Griffiths also being at that time at the 
capital in the capacity of a trader, and Dr. Powell, 
who had recently come to the capital, likewise assisted 
them. The latter, proceeding in the early part of 
the following year to Tamatave, offered to aid these 
Christians to escape from the country, if they could 
reach the coast. Their number now made safety 
increasingly difficult ; and having, more than once, 
very narrowly escaped detection, it appeared to the 
Christians that their only prospect of life depended 
on their being able to escape from the country. 

On the 23rd of May, 1840, these sixteen Christians 
left their places of concealment, and, under the direc- 
tion of two guides chosen by their friends, com- 
menced their journey to Tamatave. They travelled 
safely from the province of Imerina, through the 
next province, and entered the third province, in 
which they journeyed onward till they reached 
Eanomafana. 

A short distance to the north of these celebrated 



CAPTURE OF THE FUGITIVES. 145 

hot springs they were, in consequence of the mis- 
placed confidence of one of the guides in a relative, 
to whom he had communicated the object of the 
journey, captured, and taken back to Beforona, where 
they were imprisoned for a fortnight, and then con- 
ducted to the capital for trial. When within about 
six miles of the city, a young woman, concealing 
herself behind one of the men, made her escape; 
finding a female friend, she was placed for safety in 
an unoccupied house, the doors and windows of 
which were filled up with stones ; there she remained 
undiscovered until the guards had given up their 
search and resumed their journey, then, loosening 
her hair, she fled for her life northward, until she 
reached the house of a Christian, where she received 
welcome, shelter, food and clothing. 

The rest of the captives, five weeks after the 
commencement of their flight, were brought to the 
foot of the capital, and lodged near a village called 
Faliarivo (a thousand joys). If the captors thought 
of the import of the name, what cruel mockery 
it was to detain in a place so designated these toil- 
worn captives on their way to sentence and execu- 
tion ! But if, during this same night, faith revealed 
to any of the Christians visions of glory at all resem- 
bling that which the martyr Stephen saw, how 
appropriate the designation of this, their last resting- 
place on their last journey ! 

The next morning the captives were brought 
into the capital, bound hand and foot with cords, 
and subjected to close examination, each one sepa- 
L 



146 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

rately, during several days, to discover the names of 
other Christians, but all were true to their friends ; 
and although there were probably more than two 
hundred Christians in the capital or the suburbs, 
none were mentioned. The guides implicated Mr. 
Griffiths; but the Christians, unmoved by the 
promises or the threats of the examiners, preserved 
by their silence the lives of their brethren. 

The prisoners were then placed under guards in 
several houses until the sentence of the queen should 
be declared. A young man and a young woman, 
each bound separately with cords, were confined in 
the same house, with a soldier to guard them. At 
midnight, while the guards slept, the young man 
began to work with his teeth at the cords on his 
wrists, and ultimately freed his hands. He soon 
removed the cords from his feet. Then he examined 
the cords that bound the hands and feet of his fellow- 
prisoner, but found that although she was not, like 
the captives of ancient times, chained to the guards 
who kept them, yet the soldier in charge lay, while 
sleeping, upon the cord which bound her limbs. The 
young man then opened the window of his prison- 
house, and finding that the guards outside were 
sleeping, he passed out and ran to Analakely, where 
knocking at the door of a friend's house, he greatly 
alarmed the inmates, who started back in astonish- 
ment when they saw him, but recognising his voice, 
admitted and embraced him with joy. A military 
friend afterwards concealed him amongst the tents of 
some recruits recently arrived from the country. 



AN ESCAPED PRISONER. 147 

During the course of my visit to Madagascar in 1853, 
in company with Mr. Cameron, I frequently met with 
the young man who had experienced this remark- 
able deliverance, and recorded my impression of the 
first interview in the following words : — 

"While we were in the house of a foreigner, a 
Christian, whom we had expected to see, entered the 
place where we were sitting. After looking earnestly 
at each of us for a few moments, and almost mechanic- 
ally giving us his hand, there came over his whole 
countenance such an expression as I had never before 
witnessed in any human being. It was not ecstasy, 
it was not terror, and yet apparently a blending of 
both, marked by an intensity of feeling but rarely 
witnessed. During the whole interview, which took 
place under circumstances of secrecy but great danger, 
there was a strange uneasiness, mingled with evident 
satisfaction, which can be seen only in times and 
positions eminently perilous, and which it would be 
difficult to describe.* 

Mr. Jones, the senior missionary to Madagascar, 
as well as Captain Campbell, an English officer from 
Mauritius, were in the capital at the time when the 
Christian party were brought back. They had heard 
with sorrow of their capture, and contributed to the 
alleviation of their sufferings. 

On the morning of the 9th of July the firing of 
cannons announced that a kabary was to be held at 
Imahamasina, where the troops under arms and a 
vast concourse of people began to assemble early. 

* "Three Visits to Madagascar," p. 36. 



148 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

Guns continued firing from the battery on the edge 
of the mountain overlooking the plain during the 
day; and towards noon the commander-in-chief and 
the chief officers of the government passed along the 
road to the plain, and on reaching the place to which 
the prisoners had been already taken, proclaimed 
before the multitude the following sentence passed 
by the queen on the Christians : — 

" With respect to these people who pray and read 
the books of the foreigners, I have, says the queen, 
admonished them several times, yet they persevere 
to oppose my will. Some have been put to death, 
others reduced to perpetual slavery, others fined, 
and others reduced in rank, for praying and worship- 
ping the God of the white people. But these 
continue to pray in spite of all I do ; and not only 
that, but they have endeavoured to make their 
escape from the country. Sixteen of them were 
found and caught to the north of Andevoranto. 
Eleven are condemned to be put to death. Two 
out of the eleven have escaped. Nine are now to 
be conveyed to the place of execution; and one 
man who maimed himself that he might not be 
made a soldier. These part with me, and so I part 
with them. They forsake me, and I forsake them. 
Take them, and present them before the house of 
the white man." * 

They were nine in number, and being, from want 
of food, too weak to walk, they were tied to poles, 
and thus carried on men's shoulders. Joshua, the 

* Mr. Griffiths. 



EXECUTION OF CHRISTIANS. 149 

native preacher, seemed to recognise his former 
teacher as the procession of death halted, according 
to the orders of the queen, before Mr. Griffiths' house. 
All appeared to be engaged in prayer. A hallowed 
serenity, almost an expression of hopeful joy, 
irradiated the countenances of some. One young 
woman, in whom many were interested, spoke to the 
soldiers and executioners of the blessedness of trust 
and hope in Christ, as she was borne along the road, 
for the distance of a mile from the place where 
sentence had been pronounced, through the city to 
Ambohizanahary (village of God), a rugged hill 
nearly opposite the palace. There, in the attitude 
of prayer, these nine martyrs fell without a struggle 
beneath the spears of the executioners. 

The head of the venerable Paul the diviner, and 
that of Joshua the preacher, were struck off, and 
fixed on poles near the spot, to warn others of the 
penalty that awaited all who forsook the idols of 
the country. The bursting of the cannon which 
was fired as a signal for the execution of the 
prisoners, and the wounding of the gunner, caused 
many of the people to declare that it was an omen 
of evil to the persecutors of the Christians. 

The great body of the spectators were unusually 
quiet, for the people, if not friendly, were becoming 
less willing to inform against the Christians. Some 
occasionally succoured them, and not a few regarded 
with instinctive condemnation the cruelty and in- 
justice with which they were treated. The spectacle 
of these public executions, regarded in association 



150 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

with the humble, cheerful confidence with which 
the Christians recommended the Saviour to those 
who were conveying them to death, for their own 
love and trust in that divine Bedeemer, was the 
strongest demonstration of the truth and reality of 
their own religion which could possibly be given. 
And thus these fearful cruelties were made, under 
the influence of the divine Spirit, a means of increase 
and strength to the church which they were intended 
to destroy. 

A message from the queen was sent by Tsitialaingia 
to Mr. Griffiths, who was accused of sending the 
Christians away, stating that because he was an 
Englishman she did not subject him to the penalties 
that would have been inflicted on a Malagasy, but 
ordered him to pay a fine for his head, a fee to the 
accusers, and another fine to the government; 
altogether about £30. He was also ordered to 
leave the capital in a fortnight, to depart from the 
country, and not to return. He finally left, not 
without considerable peril, on the 1st of September, 
1840. 

Although the government seemed to regard Chris- 
tianity as a source of insecurity and danger, the re- 
moval of the Christians did not bring strength to 
the government, or peace to the people. The cruelty 
and oppression, corruption and greed of many in 
power, rendered portions of the population desperate, 
and tended both to fill the prisons with criminals 
and the borders of the uninhabited parts of the country 
with bands of armed robbers, which imperilled life 



INFLUENCE UPON THE PEOPLE. 151 

and property. At the time when the Christians 
suffered, some hundreds of the people had been 
accused of different offences, and were awaiting trial. 
After the death of the Christians, little was 
said about Christianity, but much was thought. To 
have spoken favourably of those who had been put 
to death would have been treason, but many pitied, 
and no one blamed them. The unfaltering faith and 
blameless lives of the believers, the blessed hope 
which brightened their future, and which no present 
sufferings could overcloud or destroy, the benevolence, 
love, and truth which marked their course, were 
patent to all and acknowledged by many. The 
good confession some had witnessed, their meek, un- 
complaining submission, and the hopeful prayer 
which occupied their last moments, contrasted with 
the parade of power put forth in connection with 
their execution, sunk into many hearts, and were 
already producing deep ponderings as to the cause of 
the difference between the character and influence of 
Christianity and of heathenism. God was by this 
means as much unfolding the nature of His kingdom, 
and preparing the hearts of His people for its recep- 
tion, as by the most active efforts of the preachers of 
His word. The votaries of idolatry, by the manifesta- 
tions of its character and influence which their treat- 
ment of the Christians produced, were at the same 
time loosening its hold upon the people, and thus 
removing one great impediment to their acceptance 
of the gospel of salvation. Had the Martyr Church 
in its earliest years not been thus severely tested 



152 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

its faith would have been feebler, and its witness 
for God would have been less conducive to the subse- 
quent triumphs of the gospel in Madagascar. 

But the lives already sacrificed, and the severe 
bondage inflicted on the Christians, failed to appease 
the anger of their persecutors, whose restless en- 
deavours to destroy them greatly increased their peril. 
The soldiers in search of them were so numerous, and 
had become so well acquainted with their hiding- 
places, that concealment became daily more difficult. 
Those who fled to the desert and forest were at 
times in danger of starvation, or of being carried off 
by the armed bands of robbers which infested the 
uninhabited parts of the country. 

We do not wonder that although the faith of these 
Christians did not fail, they were bowed down by 
their affliction. It creates no surprise that their 
places of meeting were less numerous, and more 
difficult of access, and that fewer of the Christians 
were able to attend them. These were the darkest 
days which had overtaken them. They were desti- 
tute of all earthly consolation ; and nothing, during 
the entire progress of the gospel among them, shows 
more clearly the presence and care of the divine 
Saviour, than the stedfastness of their faith, and 
the actual additions which, even under these circum- 
stances, were made to their numbers. 

The Christians in Vonizongo, a district in the west, 
having heard that some of the Sakalava chiefs to the 
north-west were willing to receive the Christian 
teachers, sent two of their number, Eatsitsambahina 



EXECUTION OF TWO SOLDIEES. 153 

and Kaberahamba, to visit thera. On their re- 
turn, these men were captured by the guards on 
the frontier, and while their companions in the 
province escaped, they were sent to the capital for 
trial. There they were cruelly treated to induce 
them to name their companions. To a Christian 
friend, who brought them food while they were in 
prison, they managed, unperceived, to whisper a 
message of affection to their fellow-believers, and 
the assurance that, whatever they might suffer, they 
would not reveal the names of their companions; and 
they kept their word. 

On their trial these Christians declared to the 
judges that they went into the Sakalava country 
of their own free will, to try to soften, by the 
teaching of the word of God, the hearts of the 
people who stole their cattle and committed violence 
in the country ; that they prayed and read the Book, 
but all was done in loyalty to the queen and for the 
good of the country. They were sentenced to die, 
and sent back to their own village to be executed. 

These men had been soldiers, and manifested not 
only holy confidence in God, but cheerful courage in 
death. They were both executed in the public 
market on Sunday, the 19th of June, 1842. When 
led forth to be executed they took leave affectionately 
of their friends, saying, "Farewell, beloved friends, 
God will cause us this day to meet with Him in 
paradise/' The heathen spectators were struck with 
awe and astonishment at the manner in which these 
Christians met their death. Their fellow-believers 



154 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

spoke of them as only having ascended to heaven 
before their companions. The heads of these first 
martyrs of Vonizongo were severed from their bodies 
and fixed on poles in a public place ; but the sequel 
seemed to show that the ghastly skulls served rather 
to perpetuate in the minds of the people the constancy 
of the Christians, than to deter others from receiving 
their faith. 

Three months after these events Antananarivo 
witnessed a fearful illustration of the blind and 
sanguinary wrath of the queen against the Christians. 
Some unknown person affixed, during the night, on 
the wall of a house in the capital, a paper — a leaf of 
the New Testament — with Matt, xxiii. 13 underlined: 
" Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! 
for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men : 
for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer 
ye them that are entering to go in." When the 
queen was told what had been done she was ex- 
tremely angry, and issued a proclamation, requiring 
the person who had been guilty of the offence to 
accuse himself within four days, declaring that if 
the offender did not confess within that time, and 
was afterwards discovered, he should be cut into 
pieces as small as musket-balls. 

No one having confessed at the expiration of the 
appointed time, Eaharo, a Christian, who had been 
baptized and had been one of the head teachers in 
the government schools, together with several others, 
was arrested. Eaharo was ordered to take the tan- 
gena, under which he died. Eatsimilay, another 



DEATH OF EEV. D. JOHNS. 155 

Christian, having endeavoured to save him from the 
ordeal, was put to death, as was also Imamongy ; and 
their bodies were cut into small pieces, and after- 
wards burned. No evidence whatever was produced 
to show that either of these young men, or any of 
the Christians, were connected with the affixing of 
the obnoxious paper. It seemed as if they had been 
seized on account of their being Christians, and of 
having been educated. There were many excellent 
writers in the capital, who were neither Christians 
themselves nor friendly to those who were, and parts 
of the New Testament, in manuscript or print, were 
accessible to all. It is scarcely possible, considering 
the consequences and the probable results of so 
daring an act, to believe that any Christian could 
have been guilty of it. 

In the following year Madagascar lost one of its 
most sincere and devoted friends in the death of the 
Eev. David Johns, a laborious and self-denying 
missionary, who cheerfully consecrated his life to 
the spiritual welfare of the Malagasy. When driven 
from Imerina, Mr. Johns made several voyages to 
the western coast of the island, seeking to secure 
shelter or the means of escape for the Christians, 
and to spread the gospel among the people. While 
thus employed he died, in the fiftieth year of his age, 
at Mosibe, in August, 1843. Besides ordinary mis- 
sionary labours, Mr. Johns wrote some of the native 
hymns, which the Christians still delight to sing, 
and translated "The Pilgrim's Progress" into their 
language, a book which, next to the Scriptures, 



156 THE MARTYR CHUECH. 

proved a source of instruction as well as unspeakable 
consolation to them during their long night of per- 
secution and suffering. These efforts on their behalf, 
together with his own gentle, affectionate, unselfish 
spirit, endeared him to the Malagasy, amongst whom 
his memory is still fragrant. A grateful tribute of 
respect was paid to the work of the deceased mis- 
sionary by the commander of H.M.S. Isis > Sir John 
Marshall, to whom he was personally known, and 
who erected an appropriate monument over his grave 
in the island of Nosibe, occupied by the French, 
whose hospitality and kindness had soothed the last 
hours of the English missionary. 

God did not leave His people in this season of 
their weakness without encouragement. They were 
not at this time harassed by impeachments or arrests, 
and were astonished as well as cheered by continued 
accessions from the heathen. One great affliction was 
a want of the word of God, for a supply of which 
they most earnestly applied. Speaking of their Sab- 
baths, they said, "We always go to some hill or 
valley far away. "We leave home on the Saturday, 
and on Sunday meet together and offer our worship 
to the Lord. It is only the men who can thus go to 
a distance, and this makes us feel on account of the 
sorrow of those who cannot go. Still we do not 
faint. Hitherto we have been safe, for God has 
hidden us under the shadow of His wings; for 
though many hear about us, and see us, they say, 
'These people pray,' and do not inform against us, 
but compassionate us." 



A CHRISTIAN PRINCE. 157 

In the course of divine providence light often 
appears in the midst of unusual darkness; and at 
this time light and hope from an unexpected quarter 
arose in the midst of desolation. An officer who 
often had business at the palace was occasionally 
accompanied by his nephew, who was a Christian. 
The young visitor was noticed by Bakotond-radama,* 
the prince royal, then in his sixteenth year, only son 
of the queen, and heir to the throne, who soon entered 
into conversation with him. 

Emboldened by the frank and genial bearing of the 
prince, the young visitor after a time spoke to him 
of the faith of the Christians, and the prince became 
deeply interested in the subject. About the same 
time a young Christian, who had been baptized 
among the earliest converts, became distinguished 
as a fearless and faithful preacher of the gospel, even 
while severe penalties against Christianity were 
threatened by the queen. The spirits of the disci- 
ples were revived, their activity renewed, and large 
audiences were gathered, who not only listened with 
attention to the young evangelist, but publicly 
avowed themselves disciples, to the number of a 
hundred or more. The visitor of the prince spoke 
of these meetings, and at his suggestion he attended 
them, was deeply impressed, and repeated his attend- 
ance. After a time the earnestness of Eamaka, or, as 
the Christians called him, Easalasala (the bold one), 

* The name of the prince is a compound word, Rakoto signify- 
ing young, or the young one ; Radama, the name of his reputed 
father. The name signified young Radama, or Radama the youth. 



158 THE MART YE CHURCH. 

and the effects of it on his mind, were such that he de- 
clared himself desirous of being more fully instructed. 

As the prince had a separate establishment of his 
own, he arranged for Christian teachers to go to his 
house every evening, when he was not otherwise 
engaged, to pray and to explain the Scriptures to 
him. During the same period he often attended the 
meetings for public worship on the Sunday. From 
his earliest years the prince had manifested an 
instinctive horror at the reckless shedding of blood 
and destruction of life. The sufferings of the 
Christians had also excited his compassion, predis- 
posing him to befriend them, and to regard with 
favour their more humane and merciful faith. 

Before the close of the year in which the prince 
had associated himself with the Christians, an accu- 
sation was brought to the government against them, 
with a list of one hundred names of persons who had 
disobeyed the queen's law by attending meetings for 
prayer. The list was given to the prime minister, 
who, discovering among the accused his own aide-de- 
camp and relative, destroyed the list, and only twenty- 
one were proceeded against. 

On behalf of these accused Christians the prince 
pleaded with his mother so effectually, that none 
were sentenced to death. Nine were ordered to 
drink the tangena, under which one died. Five were 
sold into slavery, two escaped, and the rest remained 
in chains. Severe and iniquitous as this punishment 
was, the Christians were filled with thankfulness that 
the lives of so many had been spared. In their 



CONVERSION OF PRINCE RAMON JA. 159 

letters at that time they ask the missionaries to thank 
God for giving them such a friend as the prince had 
proved, and to implore on his behalf divine protec- 
tion and blessing. 

If, without that work of the Holy Spirit which 
alone can change the heart, the prayers of the 
Christians could have secured the implanting of new 
and holy principles in the heart of the prince, he 
would have become a disciple in heart and life, as 
well as in sympathy and aid. As it was, however, we 
are not surprised at the gratitude which the friend- 
ship of the queen's son inspired; for though the Chris- 
tians could not see him frequently, and could only 
meet for worship in the night, or in solitary places, 
and were followed even then by spies, who reported 
their names to the government, they add in their 
letters, " But thanks to the prudent mediation of the 
prince, the things reported by the spies proceed no 
further." " The prince," they observe, " comes regu- 
larly with us in the woods on Sunday for worship, 
and often takes some of us home to explain to him 
the word of truth." 

Among the intimate friends of the prince, and one 
of the companions of his youth, was Prince Eamonja, 
his cousin, the son of his mother's eldest sister, and 
the brother of Eamboasalama, his rival. Prince 
Eamonja, Eadama's senior, was a man of gentle 
spirit, strongly attached to the prince, and a great 
favourite with the queen. By the conversation of 
the teachers he was induced to unite with the 
Christians. He allowed them to meet for worship 



160 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

in his houses, and was, for a number of years, one 
of their most powerful and devoted friends. 

Simultaneously with these favours the great Head 
of the Church raised up another valuable friend, less 
powerful, but equally devoted to the welfare of the 
Christians. The prime minister sent a nephew, to 
whom he was much attached, to their meetings, with 
instructions to write down the names of all who 
might be present. The young officer went, but told 
the Christians the object of his visit, and advised 
them to return immediately to their homes, lest 
harm should come. When his uncle, on his return, 
asked for the list, he replied, " There is none." 
"Why," said the uncle, "have you disobeyed my 
orders ? You must lose your head, for you also 
are a Christian." The young man quietly replied, 
"lama Christian, and if you will you can put me 
to death ; but I must pray." After a pause, natural 
affection triumphed, and the uncle said, " Oh no, you 
shall not die." Thus again, by the holy courage of 
this young man, the Christians were delivered. 

To the effect of this discovery by the chief officer 
of the government, together with the continued in- 
fluence of the prince with his mother, may be 
ascribed, in part at least, the leniency shown to the 
Christians, and the welcome accessions to their 
numbers. Not a few residing in country places 
repaired to the mountains, amongst which the 
Christians were in concealment, to ask instruction, 
and to unite in their worship. The believers who 
had been put in chains were kept in their own houses, 



PREACHERS IN CHAINS. 161 

under guards of soldiers ; but their friends and others 
had free access to them. With these the prisoners 
conversed, and prayed, and praised the Lord. They 
read the Holy Scriptures, explaining and enforcing 
their saving truths. The Christians declared that 
sweet Avere their bonds when so employed ; and God 
blessed these sermons delivered by preachers in 
chains. Xumbers received the word in love and 
faith ; and some, even among the soldiers appointed 
to guard the prisoners, were also converted to Christ. 
Gradually, by the kindness of the keepers, or the 
consent of the authorities, the chains of the prisoners 
were loosened, and finally ceased to be fastened on 
their limbs. Writing of this period (1847-8), the 
Christians observe, "The Lord hath taken away 
their chains ; " and they add, " This great power in 
favour of the gospel fills the minds of the people 
with astonishment." 

The employment of the imprisoned Christians 
was preaching the word, and repairing such copies 
of the Bible and other books as remained in their 
possession. Scarcely any want was more keenly 
felt amongst them than that of books. Most of the 
educated Christians employed themselves in copy- 
ing out, so far as their materials would allow, portions 
of Scripture, and other books. The eyes of some were 
seriously injured by close application to this work 
in their places of concealment. I brought home no 
memorials of the persecutions in Madagascar more 
deeply affecting than some of these fragments of 
Scripture, worn, rent, fragile, and soiled by the dust 
M 



162 THE MAETYE CHUECH. 

of the earth or the smoke in the thatch, at times 
when they had been concealed, yet most carefully 
mended, by drawing the rent pages together with 
fibres of bark, or having the margins of the leaves 
covered over with stronger paper. 

This welcome season of rest, refreshment, and 
strength, derived from accessions to their number, 
confirming their faith that God was working with 
them, was but a preparation for severer trials. After 
about two years of comparative calm and progress, 
the heaviest storm of persecution yet endured burst 
upon the church. On the 19th of February, 1849, 
two houses belonging to Prince Eamonja, which had 
been used as places of Christian worship, were 
demolished, and the materials carried off as spoil. 
Eleven Christians were seized and put in chains. A 
kabary, or public meeting, was called at Andohalo. 
The substance of the message from the queen was, 
"I have killed some, I have made some slaves till 
death, I have put some in long and heavy fetters, 
and still you continue doing that practice. How is 
it that you cannot give up that ? " (praying). 

Two Christians answered, " Eeverence for God and 
His law prevents our giving up praying." One said, 
" Our prayers will bring good to the queen, to her 
subjects, to her kingdom, and to ourselves who offer 
them. When the fruits of the earth are ripe, and 
we live to the end of the year, we rejoice and pray * 

* There are specific words for praise, homage, and thanksgiving ; 
but the native word for pray generally is used to signify worship. 
The places of worship are called prayer-houses. 



CHRISTIAN HEROISM. 163 

to God to bless the queen, and the kingdom, and 
ourselves." 

A week afterwards the Christians, throughout the 
districts of the province, were ordered to accuse 
themselves at the appointed place in each district. 
The queen's message sent by the officers and judges, 
to whom confession was to be made, was this,- — " I 
give these praying people time to accuse themselves ; 
but it is not for their sakes that I give them time, 
but for the sake of Imerina ; and were it not so, I 
would put them all to death, for they do the things 
which I hate." 

At Vonizongo, when the judge urged the people to 
take the oath which recognised the idols, and to 
implore the prescribed curses on themselves if they 
violated it, Eabodomanga stood forth and said, " I do 
not pray to wood and stones, nor to the mountains. 
Unto God alone do I pray, for He is great. He 
cannot have associates" (other gods). One of the 
officers said, " You wretch ! will you not pray to the 
spirits of the ancestors and to the idols ? " The heroic 
Christian woman answered, " I do not pray to these : 
it is God alone that I serve" (in worship). 

The message from the queen, on which the gather- 
ing in the district had been ordered, was to give the 
Christians an opportunity of accusing themselves, 
that she might inflict on them a less punishment 
than death. But the proposals of the judges, and 
the answers of the people, show that the commission- 
ers were not so much concerned about the people 
accusing themselves, as they were to induce them to 



164 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

take the oath. The Christians regarded the oath as 
invoking the idols; their refusal, therefore, was ex- 
pressed in their declaration that they should not or 
could not worship billets of wood, but " God alone." 
One of these added, " For He alone is worthy to 
receive religious honour and praise." 

Eainitraho, a noble, a descendant of one of the 
most distinguished sovereigns of the country, replied, 
"God has given none to be worshipped on earth, 
nor under heaven, except the name of Jesus Christ." 
" Fellow ! " exclaimed the officer, " will you not 
worship the departed kings and the idols which raised 
them up ? " To which the stedfast confessor replied, 
" I cannot worship any of them, for they were kings 
given to be served, but not to be worshipped. God 
alone is to be worshipped for ever and ever, and to 
Him alone I pray." This faithful Christian sealed 
his testimony to Jesus Christ with his blood in the 
flames. After his answers, one of the officers from 
the capital interfered, saying, " Let us stop the exa- 
minations, lest all the people declare as these have 
done." The advice was adopted, and no others at 
Yonizongo were then required to take the oath. 

The first Christian to whom the officer proposed 
the oath at Analakely, answered, " I shall not pray 
to stone and wood. Steps are made with stone, and 
houses built with wood, and the idols are only 
cuttings of wood. Why should I worship them ? 
for unto God alone should men offer prayer and 
worship." 

In reference to the charge that the Christians 



FIRMNESS IN THE FACE OF DANGER. 165 

were not loyal subjects because they condemned 
quarrelling and fighting, Mary said, " If our enemies 
say they (viz., the Malagasy) will not fight, it is not 
the Christians at all that they speak of, for against 
the enemies of the queen and her country the 
Christians will fight. As for stones, and wood, and 
the idols, and the mountains, God has not given them 
to be prayed unto ; for they are things without life. 
But God is the Lord of heaven and earth, and of all 
things ; and for these reasons I do not pray to 
things without life." 

One of these last Christians, on being questioned, 
said, " I believe in God, for He alone can do all things 
for me ; and I wish to obey whatever He commands 
me ; but as to swearing by the queen, or by one's 
father or brother, a lie is a lie still, whether you 
swear to it or not. I believe in God, and put my 
trust in Jesus Christ, the Saviour and Eedeemer of 
all that believe in Him." This woman was then put 
in chains, with her companions, to await the queen's 
pleasure. 

Eanivo, an interesting and beautiful young woman 
of good family, about whom much interest was felt, 
and whom the queen wished to save, when ques- 
tioned, said, " I cannot serve the idols : God alone 
will I serve as long as my life shall last, for God has 
given me life and spirit, a higher spiritual life to 
worship Him, and for that reason I worship God." 

Eainisoanaly, the examining officer, then said, 
* Perhaps you are not right in your mind, or ill ; or 
perhaps you are under some charm, and you should 



166 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

consider well lest the queen should not like yon, 
and you should destroy yourself for no purpose." 

Eanivo replied, "I am not deranged, nor am I 
suffering from any illness." Then addressing her 
father, who was present, she exclaimed, " You indeed 
love me, father, but God has given me a spirit to 
worship Him, and I should be filled with dread if I 
were to cease to pray to Him ; therefore I shall not 
cease to worship Him, lest I should die everlasting 
death." Then the officer said, " Bind her," as he had 
ordered them to bind the others. 

Of two others, whom they asked where they had 
preached and who were their companions, one said, 
" I preached in my own house ; " and both said, " It 
would be sin against God to betray our friends, and 
we cannot do that." The officers then left, saying 
as they went, "These are stubborn and obstinate 
people." 

The trials were now ended, and the multitude 
separated until the morrow, when sentence was to be 
pronounced. The captives in chains spent this their 
last night on earth in their respective prisons, guarded 
by the soldiers, their keepers. Their communings 
with their own spirits, with their divine Lord, on the 
eternity they were so soon to enter, it would be 
profane to make the subject of conjecture. Their 
brethren in Christ, whose limbs were still unbound, 
met together an hour after midnight to pray. The 
firing of cannon at break of day agitated the hearts 
of thousands, and while the firing of the guns con- 
tinued at intervals through the morning, the mul- 



A GRAND PROCESSION. 167 

titudes gathered at Analakely. The preachers, 
teachers, readers of the Scriptures, and worshippers 
of God were conducted to the plain, and each class 
of offenders were placed by themselves. 

But the sight which most deeply penetrated many 
hearts, and stirred their inmost feelings, was that of 
the true, stedfast confessors who had refused to bow 
down and worship the idols of Eanavalomanjaka. 
Outwardly there was everything to repel, or to 
awaken pity. Each Christian man and woman was 
fastened with cords to two poles, their bodies 
wrapped in torn and soiled pieces of matting, in token 
of their degradation, their mouths rilled with rag 
to prevent their speaking of the Saviour ; yet these 
eighteen, the noble, the civilian, the slave — all 
equal now, children of God going to glory — formed, 
as they were borne along — the young and faithful 
Eanivo walking alone at the end of the illustrious 
line — the grandest procession which the sun of 
Madagascar had ever shone upon. 

On reaching the appointed spot these Christians 
were placed on the ground, the soldiers encircling 
them with their spears fixed in the earth. And then, 
accompanied by their escort, and marching to the 
sound of military music, with all the solemn pomp 
belonging to their rank and duties, the officers and 
judges, with their attendants, arrived, and delivered 
the message of the queen, which was as follows : — 

" I, the queen of Madagascar, say that no religion 
whatever, excepting that of Andrianampoinimenna 
and Eadama, and the customs of your ancestors, shall 



168 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

be ever introduced and practised in this my country : 
anything else is totally rejected by me. Had I not 
ordered the followers of the new religion to inculpate 
themselves, they would soon overturn the country, 
and all the people would follow them. I consider 
them rebels; therefore I tell you how I have 
punished them, as the spirits of Andrianampoinime- 
rina and Eadama have revealed to me." 

This short fragment of the speech exhibits clearly 
what were, the principles on which this fearful perse- 
cution was sustained — the determination of the queen 
that no other religion than that of her ancestors 
should exist in Madagascar ; the extent to which 
Christianity would have increased, had she not inter- 
posed — " all the people would follow them ;" and the 
declaration that in their punishment she acted under 
the inspiration of the deified spirits of her ancestors. 
The sentences of the queen upon the offenders, who 
were divided into classes according to their rank or 
their crimes, were then officially announced. 

The four nobles, two of whom were husband and 
wife, were sentenced to be burned alive at Faravo- 
hitra, the last village on the northern end of the 
mountain on which the city is built. The fourteen 
others of inferior rank were sentenced to be hurled 
from the edge of Ampamarinana, a rock to the west 
of the palace, and their wives and children to be 
sold into irredeemable slavery. 

The remaining sentences included labour in chains 
for life, inflicted on one hundred and seventeen 
persons, with public flogging on one hundred and 



SENTENCES OF PUNISHMENT. 169 

five of their number. Fines, equivalent to one-half 
of their value if sold into slavery, were imposed on 
sixty-four. A fine of three oxen and three dollars 
was inflicted on one thousand six hundred and forty- 
three persons, for attending Christian worship. Prince 
Kamonja, holding high rank in the army, was, for the 
same offence, fined one hundred dollars, and reduced 
to the rank of a common soldier. One of the officers 
of the palace was deprived of his rank and fined fifty 
dollars ; as were all other officers in the army or the 
civil service of government, and reduced to the lowest 
grade. The total number of those on whom one or 
other of the sentences was pronounced on this 
occasion amounted, at the least computation, to one 
thousand nine hundred and three, but by some 
accounts it is nearer three thousand. 

"When the sentences had been pronounced, " cannon 
were fired at intervals during the forenoon, and when 
all were finished, the soldiers struck up their music, 
beating the great drums and the little drums to agitate 
and terrify the prisoners." But the Christians con- 
demned to die began singing one of their native 
hymns, commencing, — 

" Ary misy tany sea, 
Mahafinaritra indrindra." 

(There is a beauteous land, 
Making most blessed. ) 

Then the soldiers took up the four nobles and carried 
them from the plain up the hill-side to Earavohitra, 
a place on the highest part of the hill. As they were 
carried along they commenced singing another of 



170 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

their own simple and expressive hymns, the first 
verse of which begins — 

"Hod' izahay Zanahary." 
(Going home are we to God.)* 

The last verse, which might have been written lor 
that hour, is — 

"When we shall die 

And depart from this earth, 
Then increase our joy ; 
Take (us) to heaven, 
Then rejoice 
Shall we for evermore. " 

Enemies and friends would alike understand the 
feeling and the significance of this hymn. It was 
the expression of the assurance of their hope, full of 
immortality, and it was a triumphant answer to the 
slander of one of the most implacable of their perse- 
cutors, who had declared that when they sung this 
and similar hymns they were singing lies, for they 
were as much afraid of death as others. 

Thus they sung until they reached the spot where 
one large pile of firewood was built up, and they 
were then fastened to stakes a little above the wood. 
When the pile was kindled, and the flames were rising, 
they prayed and praised the Lord. Among the utter- 
ances then heard by those around them were these, — 
" Lord Jesus, receive our spirits — lay not this sin to 
their charge ;" and, as if visions of the future triumphs 
of the Lord were given to their departing spirits, one 

* The lines are translated literally, not according to rhythm or 
metre. 



CHRISTIAN MARTYRS. 171 

was heard to exclaim, " His name, His praise, shall 
endure for ever and ever." 

Once, if not more than once, the falling rain ex- 
tinguished the fire, which was rekindled ; and to one 
of the sufferers the pains of maternity were added 
to those of the flames. While their spirits were 
thus enduring and praying, a large and triple rain- 
bow, the sign of God's promise and faithfulness, was 
stretched across the heavens, one end seeming to rest 
upon the spot whence the martyrs' spirits were 
departing. Some of the spectators, to whom the 
phenomenon appeared supernatural, fled in terror ; 
but one, who faithfully remained to the end, records 
of the Christians, "They prayed as long as they 
had any life. Then they died ; but softly, gently. 
Indeed, gentle was the going forth of their life, and 
astonished were all the people around that beheld 
the burning of them there." 

The transactions on the plain of judgment were 
ended. Liberty and life at the price of apostasy had 
been offered, and by some few, occasionally associated 
with the Christians, it had been accepted ; but by 
the great body of the accused, amounting to between 
two and three thousand, it had been deliberately 
declined. Sentence against the followers of Christ 
had been pronounced. And, as in general the 
punishment immediately follows the passing of the 
sentence, nothing now remained but its infliction. 
The criminals of highest rank, in whose veins the blood 
of kings was supposed to flow, had already been sent 
away to die. In the same order and manner in which 



172 THE MARTYR CHUECH. 

they had been brought to receive judgment, the 
remaining fourteen confessors were now taken along 
the public roads, through the agitated and deeply 
affected crowds in the city, to Ampamarinana, the 
Tarpeian rock of Madagascar. Here, on the top of a 
lofty precipice, at the edge of the western crest of 
the mountain on which the city is built, the matting 
wrapped round their bodies was removed, but their 
arms remained pinioned, and their ankles were bound 
with cords. Thus bound they were taken, one by 
one, to the edge of the precipice, and either pushed, 
or laid down and rolled, or kicked over the downward 
curving edge, whence they fell fifty or sixty feet, 
when, striking a projecting ledge, they bounded off 
and fell amongst jagged and broken fragments of 
granite lying at the base of the precipice, one hun- 
dred and fifty feet below the edge from which they 
had been hurled. Life was generally extinct. One 
distinguished Christian, when the matting in which 
he was wrapped had been removed, is said to have 
asked permission to stand and view once more the 
scene before him. His request was granted, and 
after looking at each familiar object, he remained 
silent a few minutes, as if in prayer ; then, forced 
over the precipice, he was heard singing a Christian 
hymn as his body descended to be crushed and 
broken in death. 

Eanivo, belonging to the tribe or clan from which 
the reigning family trace their descent, and whom the 
queen, anxious to save, had ordered to be placed so 
that she might see the other Christians thrown from 



* FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH." 173 

the fearful height, was then led by the executioner 
to the edge of the rock, and directed to look down 
upon the mangled bodies of her friends. Her 
relatives entreated her to take the oath, save her own 
life, and please her sovereign. But she begged that 
she might follow her friends, as she could not take 
the oath. A member of her own family expostulated, 
but failed to shake her purpose. * The executioner 
then struck her on the face, saying, " She is insane, 
take her to her parents." The mangled and scarcely 
lifeless bodies of those thrown from the precipice 
were dragged along to the spot where the nobles 
were burnt, and consumed in one vast pile, the lurid 
flames of which, with whatever feelings they might 
be regarded from the windows of the palace or the 
dwellings of the high officers, were intended to 
spread awe and terror among the inhabitants of the 
numerously peopled villages around from which 
they were visible. 

* This member of her family afterwards told me that lie, with other 
officers of the palace, went to see the execution of the Christians, 
not believing nntil then that they were not afraid to die. Of the 
subsequent life of this faithful Christian woman I possess a most 
interesting memoir by her nearest friend. She was faithful unto 
death. 



174 



CHAPTEE VII. 

Severity of Prince Ramonja's punishment — Convict labour of 
Christian officers — Kindness of the princes to the Christians 
— Numbers of the Christians — Voyage of Messrs. Cameron 
and Ellis to Madagascar— Opening the ports to foreign com- 
merce — Second visit to Madagascar — Protracted intercourse 
with Christians from the capital — Visit to Mahavelona— Cor- 
respondence with Christians at the capital — Andriambelo — 
Midnight meetings with the Christians — Want of the Scrip- 
tures — Third visit to Madagascar— Arrival at the capital — 
Reception by the government — Statement of the object of 
visit — Interviews with the prince and Ramonja. 

The day after the execution of the Christians, the 
fines in money and cattle, which had been inflicted 
for minor offences, were, on the petition of the 
officers and people, reduced one-half; but the pay- 
ment of even this mitigated penalty was sufficient to 
reduce many to abject poverty. Whether it was 
supposed that any latent tendency towards Christi- 
anity existed among the people is not known, but the 
whole of the non-Christian community, gathered in 
the capital, were required to take the oath of alle- 
giance to the sovereign and the idols before they 
were permitted to return to their homes. 

It has already been stated that the heaviest fine 
levied was imposed on Prince Eamonja. He was 
also treated with extreme severity, being not only 



PRINCE RAMONJA. 175 

reduced to the grade of a common soldier, but sub- 
jected to unusual hardships. He had been accus- 
tomed to wear as comfortable clothing as the highest 
in the land, but was now allowed only the common 
light thin lamba, little more than a waistband or 
girdle, and with only this covering was frequently 
appointed to night duty, at a time of the year when 
a thick woollen dress would have been acceptable to 
Europeans. 

The prince royal, his friend, often went to visit 
him, and wept at the sight of his sufferings. The 
prince also sent him food from his own kitchen, but 
it was included among the rations served out to the 
party to which he belonged, and was shared with all 
in common. The effects of the treatment which this 
benevolent and kind-hearted prince experienced at 
this time remained through the remainder of his life, 
during the greater part, of which he was an invalid. 
But under all his own sufferings he remained the 
faithful friend, the wise counsellor, and the fearless 
advocate of the Christians. 

Prince Eakoto himself was at this time powerless, 
for he had been accused by the prime minister to the 
queen of reading the Bible and attending the meet- 
ings of the Christians for the worship of God. But 
the queen, who was probably not ignorant of the 
fact, is said to have replied, " Oh, Rakoto is young, 
he does not know what is proper, and he is my only 
son." 

It has been already stated that Eamboasalama, 
Ramonja's brother, was the rival of the prince royal in 



176 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

his claim to the throne. This arose from the queen, 
at the time of her coronation, not being then herself 
a mother, having declared that her nephew, who was 
then standing by her side, should be her successor. 
Although this declaration was not repeated after her 
own son was born, her nephew never relinquished 
his claim ; and after the prince royal had shown 
some leaning towards the Christians, the hostility of 
Eamboasalama became more determined and violent. 
He also became the chief supporter of the idols, and 
was one cause of the extreme severity with which the 
Christians were treated. 

Some Frenchmen residing at the capital, after the 
expulsion of the missionaries and the departure of 
the artisans, had proposed to the queen to introduce 
a number of European works, amongst others the 
manufacture of glass, including looking-glasses, as 
well as the foundry of cannon. These works were 
commenced at a place called Mantasoa, about twenty 
miles from the capital, and a large number of 
Christian officers who had been deprived of their 
commissions, and had been serving in the ranks for 
three quarters of a year, were, as an additional pun- 
ishment, sent as convicts under heathen taskmasters 
to quarry, dress, and carry granite stones, and con- 
struct a large stone building at this place. They 
were not allowed to have the habitation, food, and 
clothing which their means would have enabled them 
to provide. Their labour, which was excessive and 
severe, was continued after the period when their first 
sentence expired. They were then sentenced to drag 




.-*&£?. 






-; ; ,s^- 



From Phctorjtajm h-j Uev. \V. Ei.lis. 

Native farmer, and bearer or servant. 



REPEATED PUNISHMENTS. 177 

large heavy logs of timber from the forest, the severest 
labour known in Madagascar. In 1852, Eamboa- 
salama and the heathen party proposed that they 
should be again sentenced to the same severe labour ; 
but the prince and some of the officers opposed him, 
and they were released. It was when pleading the 
cause of these Christian officers that the new com- 
mander-in-chief, who had succeeded his father in 
that office, remonstrated before the queen with the 
officers of the government, saying, " They have 
suffered twice over the punishment to which they 
were sentenced. Why should they be sentenced 
again ? The thunderbolt does not strike twice." 
Their friends prevailed, and they escaped the repeti- 
tion of the misery and toil. 

During my first visit to Madagascar I saw a 
number of these men at Tamatave and Mahavelona, 
where many of the Christians found a secure asylum, 
and was deeply affected by the narrative of their 
sufferings and privations. Two of them, represented 
in the accompanying plate, were officers who had 
endured this punishment. The officer in the striped 
silk lamba had suffered in an earlier persecution. 
The taskmasters of the officers employed in quarry- 
ing and carrying large stones, seemed to have treated 
them with great cruelty. The tall man with his hat 
in his hand, a gentle-spirited and most estimable 
Christian, an aide-de-camp of the prince, once re- 
moved his lamba, and showed me the large scars of 
the deeply cut wounds on his shoulders, produced by 
the heavy rough stones they were obliged to carry 

N 



178 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

for the building. The work was afterwards aban- 
doned, and the place is now a ruin. 

Prince Kamonj a, whose health suffered greatly, 
was, after a time, released from his severe punish- 
ment, and became an officer of the palace. The 
Christians speak of him at this time as " a wise and 
faithful friend, who truly loves the Lord Christ 
Jesus." To him they had recourse when in diffi- 
culty for counsel, as well as in times of danger for 
protection. He not only attended their meetings, 
but notwithstanding the reproaches of his family, 
spoke without fear to the queen and his own rela- 
tions of the gospel of Christ. The queen's regard for 
her sister, his mother, saved him from suffering on 
that account. 

There was no denunciation at this time of the 
queen's determination to extinguish Christianity; 
but every fortnight when the soldiers of the district 
were mustered at parade in the capital, an order 
from the queen was read, enjoining the utmost vigi- 
lance in officers and men in searching or spying about 
the houses and villages to detect and seize any en- 
gaged in reading or worship. Under these circum- 
stances, the friendship and encouragement of the 
prince and of Eamonja must have been to them of 
unspeakable value. Both these princes spent large 
sums of money in sending succour to the Christians. 
Eakoto also on one occasion went to the place where 
a number of recently captured Christians were con- 
fined, set them free, and ordered their keeper, if called 
to account, to say that he had released them. 



MEETINGS IN SECRET. 179 

The gospel was still proscribed at trie capital, but 
trie disciples enjoyed comparative freedom in trie 
provinces, continuing still to increase in number in 
the country districts. Their secret meetings in the 
city were more numerously attended; and these 
gatherings were rendered deeply affecting by the 
occasional presence of some who ventured to come 
secretly from their places of concealment, and of others 
who, notwithstanding their having been sentenced to 
chains for life, were sometimes able to jpin in the 
midnight worship of their brethren wearing their 
chains. These were not massive rings and bars of 
iron, such as those by which the Christians were 
bound together, but lighter iron chains, reaching from 
an iron band fastened round the neck to the wrists 
of the same person, and from a band round the waist 
to rings fastened on the ankles. 

The believers throughout the country amounted at 
this time to thousands; and there were, notwith- 
standing the orders to the soldiers, seven houses in 
the capital in which those within reach met regularly 
for worship, besides a faithful church of sixty- eight 
members, who once every month united in commemo- 
rating the dying love of Christ their Lord. 

After the death of Eainiharo, one of the ministers 
who had placed Eanavalona on the throne, and who 
had been a powerful and cruel persecutor of the 
Christians, his son, an intelligent, energetic man, who 
had attached himself to the prince, was appointed to 
his father's office. At the same time the prince was 
nominally associated with his mother in the official 



180 THE MAETYE CHURCH. 

acts of the government, and was made secretary of 
state, as well as one of the officers of the palace. On 
him also now devolved the duty of authorizing the 
publication of the orders of the queen. The govern- 
ment were anxious to resume friendly relations with 
England, which had been for some years interrupted, 
and to welcome back the exiles who had sought 
safety in Mauritius. 

Connected with the more prominent position which 
the prince now held, accounts reached Mauritius 
that the queen was anxious to see her son estab- 
lished on the throne during her lifetime, and that 
arrangements were in progress for her abdication in 
his favour at no distant period. These accounts were 
sent early in 1853 to the London Missionary Society; 
and in order to obtain more reliable information, 
before preparing to resume their mission, I was 
solicited to visit the country, accompanied by Mr. 
Cameron, in order to ascertain the actual state of the 
people. Embarking in March of that year, I was 
joined by Mr. Cameron at the Cape, and on reaching 
Mauritius soon afterwards, we found from the Mala- 
gasy Christians there, that there had been neither 
persecution nor change in the government, though the 
friendship and influence of the prince were highly 
favourable to the Christians. 

On reaching Madagascar we were cordially wel- 
comed by the authorities, who received with evident 
relief and satisfaction the report we were able to 
make of the friendly feelings of the English towards 
Madagascar. The vessel in which we sailed had 



GEEAT WANT OF BOOKS. 181 

been sent with a letter from the merchants at 
Mauritius to the queen, respecting the opening of 
the ports of Madagascar to foreign trade. We wrote 
to the queen asking permission to visit the capital, 
and in less than three weeks received a courteous 
reply, stating that they had very much business on 
hand, and could not receive us, and that we had 
better return, lest we should take the fever through 
delay. 

We obtained information respecting the general 
state of the people, though we saw but few of the 
Christians, and had scarcely an opportunity of con- 
versing much with more than one, to whom reference 
has already been made, nor could we meet without 
danger to him. We learned that the Christians were 
increasing, and that all felt greatly the want of books, 
which we were unable to supply. Some came long 
distances for them, and almost wept when they found 
that we had none to give. Mr. Cameron received an 
affecting letter from Prince Eamonja, expressing his 
earnest desire for copies of the Scriptures and other 
books. He also stated that the Prince Eoyal some- 
times had Christians to read and pray in his house 
in the court of the palace, ordering the band to play 
at the same time in order that the queen might not 
hear. The government was reported to be chiefly 
under the guidance of Prince Eamboasalama, who, 
we heard, was plotting to secure the throne against 
his cousin, the queen's son. 

Before leaving the country, I wrote at some length 
to the chief persons connected with those in whose 



182 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

welfare we were most interested. I assured them of 
the undiminished sympathy and affection of British 
Christians, of their prayers on their behalf, and of 
their readiness, when the Lord in His providence 
should open the way, to send them Christian teachers, 
who should assist them more fully to comprehend, 
and more widely to diffuse, that blessed gospel which 
they had found so precious, and for which they had 
suffered so much. I expressed my regret that we 
had not been able to communicate with them per- 
sonally, and my hope that this favour might yet 
be granted. I also requested that if I could in 
any way further their wishes, they would write to 
me at Mauritius, acquainting me with their own 
circumstances and the prospects of the Christians. 
At the same time I sent, partly from myself, and 
partly in conjunction with Mr. Cameron, what were 
deemed suitable presents to some, also relief for the 
suffering Christians in bonds, which, though small in 
amount, might serve as some assurance of the sym- 
pathy excited by their circumstances among their 
Christian friends in England. 

Mr. Cameron afterwards returned with a delegate 
from the Chamber of Commerce at Mauritius, and a 
satisfactory arrangement was then made for opening 
the ports of Madagascar to the commerce of foreign 
countries. I remained at Mauritius corresponding 
with the Christians at the capital, to whom I was 
able to promise a supply of the Scriptures by the 
earliest possible opportunity. In one of their letters 
shortly afterwards they told me that a number of 



CHOLERA AND QUARANTINE. 183 

them went out to a solitary place, to sing together for 
joy at the prospect of receiving copies of the word 
of God. I also wrote to the secretary of the govern- 
ment at the capital, informing him of my intention 
to visit Madagascar as soon as the season should 
be favourable. 

Early in June of the following year I again 
reached Tamatave, but was detained in quarantine 
some time, on account of the cholera which prevailed 
in Mauritius at the time of my departure. So fearful 
were the government of that alarming disease, that 
all goods landed at this time were exposed to sun 
and wind for forty days, all the coin received was 
buried in the sand for an equal period, and no article 
whatever was allowed to be sent to the capital. This 
fear of infection prevented my being allowed to pro- 
ceed beyond the coast, but I was cordially welcomed 
by the authorities at the port. 

About a fortnight after my arrival, a fine, tall, 
noble-looking chief arrived, accompanied by a num- 
ber of strangers recently come from the capital, who 
had brought letters from the residents there con- 
veying much interesting intelligence. When my 
visitors wrote down on paper what they had to say, 
I could generally, by reference to the dictionary for 
a word or two, understand the meaning ; I then 
wrote my reply, and when at a loss, my servant, a 
Malagasy Christian from Mauritius, acted as inter- 
preter. Four or five of my visitors, when they left 
me, wrote on a sheet of paper, which at the time was 
lying on my desk, their affectionate salutations. This 



184 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

was the commencement of many agreeable and in- 
structive interviews with my friend, the tall figure in 
the picture, and his companions. 

In the course of a week or two after my arrival, 
another party of Christians arrived from Mahavelona, 
or Foule Point, a port about forty miles distant on 
the northern coast. At this port several of the 
officers of the government were Christians, and by 
their aid a number of persecuted disciples, and 
preachers from the capital, had found asylum there 
and succour in their distress. While waiting for 
happier days, they maintained constant intercourse 
with their brethren in Imerina, and spread the know- 
ledge of Christianity among the people in the neigh- 
bourhood. These Christians, with a relative of the 
governor of the port, and a distinguished Christian 
from the south, were amongst my daily visitors. 

I also spent a short time among the Christians at 
Mahavelona, and was surprised at their number and 
Christian attainments, as well as their activity in the 
use of the few means within their reach for main- 
taining their own spiritual life, and at their good 
influence on the non-Christian portions of the com- 
munity. I also learned with pleasure that there 
were small parties of native Christians residing still 
farther north. 

The evenings, until past midnight, I spent with 
the disciples, in one or other of their own houses, in 
answering their inquiries, assuring them of the un- 
abated sympathy and good-will which the friends in 
England cherished towards them, and in reading and 



RECEPTION BY THE AUTHORITIES. 185 

explaining the Scriptures, and prayer. I found that 
the Christians, who had means, relieved, to the utmost 
of their ability, the wants of their brethren and 
sisters in Christ who had found shelter amongst 
them ; and I was greatly pleased with their affec- 
tionate, cheerful, and considerate conduct towards 
those who had suffered much, and were still in 
danger of discovery and capture by strangers coming 
unexpectedly from the capital. 

My reception by the authorities, as already stated, 
was friendly, although the officers gave me to under- 
stand that there was no change in the treatment of 
the Christians by the government. When calling 
on the Governor, or meeting him in the house of 
a friend, I was sometimes agreeably surprised by 
a warm pressure of the hand, or other sign of recog- 
nition on the occasion from an officer in uniform, or 
other attendant, who, in plain native lamba, had been 
at our meeting for reading or prayer on the previous 
evening. It is customary to welcome visitors with 
small presents ; and although I usually expressed my 
unwillingness to receive any, and transferred them 
to my host, on one occasion two or three women, ap- 
parently bereaved or mourners, were seen approaching. 
My tall friend told me they were fugitives who had 
suffered much, and were bringing me a present, which 
he begged of me not to refuse. They entered, and, 
on being seated, said they had brought me a present, 
at the same time holding out a little matting basket 
containing three or four eggs, adding, that though 
the gift was small, I should find no one to whom my 



186 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

coming would give greater joy than it had given to 
them. I said I was glad if my presence amongst 
them, as the messenger of friends from England, had 
afforded them any consolation amidst their heavy 
trials. To do so was one of my objects in coming; 
and it was the feeling with which the gift was 
offered, rather than its intrinsic value, which made it 
acceptable. 

I was deeply affected by the accounts given by 
these, and others, of the sufferings they had personally 
endured, as well as of their loss of dearest friends in 
the past persecutions, and I was glad to aid them in 
providing for present wants, and cheered them with 
hopes of ultimate deliverance. With some I was in 
after years associated at the capital, others I never 
saw again. I left them gratified not only with their 
patience and stedfastness, but with the evidence I 
had gained of the extent to which the gospel had 
become known in the less frequented parts of the 
country. 

The letters I received at Tamatave, from the Chris- 
tians at the capital, furnished many subjects for 
instructive conversation relating to the persecuted 
believers, in many of whose trials they had personally 
shared. Some of them could speak a little English, 
and this helped us to understand each other. Andri- 
ambelo and other preachers were among those who 
were with me most of the time ; and although evi- 
dently in great want, I was deeply impressed with 
the gentleness of the demeanour of the first-named 
preacher, his varied intelligence, great activity, and 



SPIES ABROAD. 187 

unremitting endeavours to strengthen the faith of 
his brethren, as well as to urge upon all to whom he 
could safely speak the claims of the gospel, and the 
blessings attending its reception. Sincerity and 
earnest devotedness to Christ appeared to be the 
distinguishing features of his character, and these 
secured for him great respect from all his associates. 

I was told that spies were employed to take down 
the names of persons suspected of Christianity who 
might visit me by day ; but on three or four evenings 
every week a number of Christians, sometimes nearly 
twenty, came to my house between nine and ten 
o'clock, having appointed some of their number to 
watch at the gate in order to prevent surprise. 
Sometimes they inquired about the privileges and 
the proceedings of Christians in England. More 
frequently their questions related to the word of 
God, or their own course in times of difficulty. We 
always associated the reading and explanation of the 
Scriptures with prayer, and sometimes singing ; and 
though they bent their heads down, and only sang 
their native hymns in an undertone or whisper to 
English tunes, I was at times alarmed lest some un- 
friendly passer by should hear. 

Some of my companions were officers who had 
been deprived of their rank after the severe persecution 
of 1849, and had been sent to labour as convicts at 
Mantasoa, a place near the forest, as already men- 
tioned. This enforced labour was unusually severe. 
The back, shoulders, and arms of some of those who 
were with me still showed the marks of the wounds 



188 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

and bruises received while they wrought at this 
work. Notwithstanding this degradation and severe 
suffering, I never heard an expression of vindictive 
feeling towards those who had afflicted them, or a 
desire for revenge, but of thankfulness that God had 
supported them through their trials, and of sympathy 
with those whose sufferings had been severer than 
their own. 

I found that among those at Tamatave, and at 
Foule Point, as well as at the capital, the great want 
was the word of God. I had sent from Mauritius a 
few copies, and I had brought a number of New 
Testaments, bound together or in separate portions, 
as well as copies of the Psalms and other religious 
books ; but as the officers of the Custom House had 
strict orders to seize all books which there was any 
attempt to introduce into the country, my great 
difficulty was to get them on shore from the ship, 
as the captain was unfriendly. I could only conceal 
them tied under my dress ; and in this way, and in 
my pockets, I managed to take eighteen Testaments 
and other books at a time. But my heart sometimes 
beat a little quicker when the bow of the boat touched 
the shore, and I had to jump down on the beach 
amidst three or four Custom House officers, lest a 
copy should get loose and fall on the ground before 
them. I generally spoke to them and passed on, 
breathing a little more freely when I had entered 
my house, locked my door, and deposited my trea- 
sures in the innermost room. By this means I 
was able, during my successive visits to Tamatave, 



STEDFA.STNESS IN THE FAITH. 189 

to introduce about one thousand five hundred copies of 
portions of the Scriptures, and other books, among 
the famishing Christians, some of whom had only 
a few chapters in manuscript, or three or four leaves 
of a printed book, soiled, and torn, and mended, 
until the original was the smallest part left. 

From the information I received respecting the 
state of the Christians in other parts of the country, 
as well as from those at Tamatave, I could but 
rejoice in the conclusion, to which all the evidence 
tended, that although in some instances the know- 
ledge of the disciples might be very limited, and 
although in other instances there had been defection 
in maintaining the moral purity which the gospel 
requires, such instances were exceptional, and com- 
paratively rare ; while the great body of the Chris- 
tians strove, by watchfulness and prayer, to sustain 
a conscience void of offence toward God and toward 
men. 

At the time of my visit, these Christians had been 
seventeen or eighteen years without foreign teachers, 
or any experienced counsellor or guide, surrounded 
by many adversaries and peculiar difficulties. Their 
extreme and constant danger, as well as the absence 
of all earthly encouragement and help, seemed to 
have bound them together in a holy brotherhood of 
love, strong and lasting. While I heard of nothing to 
disturb the affection, the benevolent consideration 
and sacred fellowship which they shared together, I 
was surprised and delighted to find that their 
organization, for purposes of mutual edification and 



190 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

the spiritual benefit of others, had been according to 
the plain and simple model propounded in the Holy- 
Scriptures, which so far as their means permitted and 
their necessities required had been adopted; and 
whatever distinctive form their ecclesiastical polity, if 
such a term be applicable, may in any future age 
assume, all that can be said of the Martyr Church of 
Madagascar in its earlier years is, that it has been 
built by its own members — guided, we trust, by God's 
Spirit — upon the few solid and imperishable prin- 
ciples set forth in the New Testament. 

I left Madagascar in September, and before return- 
ing to England I visited the stations of the London 
Missionary Society in South Africa ; and previously 
to my departure from the Cape of Good Hope, in 
1855, I received a letter, addressed to Mr. Cameron 
and myself, stating that as the cholera had ceased in 
Mauritius, there was no impediment to our visiting 
the capital of Madagascar. A second letter to the 
same effect reaching me in London, in 1856, I sailed 
for that island, in compliance with the wishes of the 
directors of the society, in March of that year, and 
after a long detention at Ceylon reached Madagascar 
on the 12th of July. 

Letters from the Prince Eoyal, and from Prince 
Eamonja, had been sent to Tamatave, expressing 
their pleasure at the prospect of seeing me, and 
urging me not to delay my journey. Orders had 
been also received by the authorities at Tamatave to 
provide bearers for myself and my luggage. I was, 
however, somewhat delayed by the arrival of mes- 



SETTING OUT FOR THE CAPITAL. 191 

sengers sent from the capital to express the con- 
dolence of the sovereign with the family of the late 
M. Delastelle, a French trader who had recently- 
died. The mode of estimating the worth of the 
deceased appeared to me unusual, when the 
officer, in addressing the family, said the queen 
would rather have given two thousand, three thou- 
sand, or even five thousand dollars, than that he 
should have died. I was, however, afterwards told 
that this is a usual mode of expressing the sense of 
loss by death. The most objectionable part of the 
proceeding was the distribution of a number of oxen 
for slaughter, and the gift of several barrels of arrack, 
in consequence of which a large part of the popula- 
tion gave themselves up to drunkenness and riot 
throughout the night. 

Soon after noon on the 8th of August, I set out on 
my journey, in a covered palanquin, accompanied by 
the bearers whom the queen had appointed to carry my 
luggage. The Governor sent an officer in charge of 
the natives, and the society of Christian officers from 
Mahavelona, travelling to the capital at the same 
time, made the journey instructive and pleasant. 

I had already become acquainted with the coast in 
the neighbourhood of Tamatave; but the country 
inland exhibited not only new, rich, and charming 
scenery, but made me acquainted with a number of 
most rare and beautiful plants, the existence of many 
of which had, by a French botanist, been previously 
made known in Europe, but of which no living plant 
had been seen there. Such plants were abundant ; 



192 



THE MAETYE CHUECH. 



amongst them the Angrcecum sesquipedah and t~he 



Ouvirandra 




or lace-leaf plant; the 
latter grew in the shal- 
low waters which I fre- 
quently passed. Living 
specimens of both these 
rare and remarkable 
plants, as well as others, 
I was able to bring to 
England ; and to deposit 
the Ouvirandra at Kew, 
as also in the Edinburgh 
and Dublin public gar- 
dens. The Angrcecum 
now finds a place in most 
orchidaceous collections. 
I halted at one place 
where crocodiles' eggs 
were dried for food, and 
saw several of the cele- 
brated places on the road. 
At the residence of Prince 



APPROACHING THE CAPITAL. 193 

Bamonja, in the province of Ankay, I was most hospi- 
tably entertained. Letters of cheerful greeting from 
the Christians reached me during my journey. I had 
the pleasure of spending a night sometimes with a 
Christian traveller, or with a number of the leading 
Christians and preachers from the capital, grave and 
dignified men, who were the bearers of messages and 
presents, and of receiving the hospitality of Christian 
residents in places through which I passed. I also 
visited in the night, in a lonely place, a preacher and 
his wife and family, all under sentence of death and 
slavery, but living in concealment. I had passed 
through the eastern portion of Imerina, and halted 
for the night, according to instructions from the 
capital, at the small village of Ambohipo. 

Soon after sunrise on the morning of the 25th of 
August, three young officers arrived, having been sent 
by the queen to conduct me to the capital, about 
five miles distant. I was glad that they spoke Eng- 
lish sufficiently well to enable us to understand each 
other. They were the three young nobles who after- 
wards compiled and published an English and Mala- 
gasy vocabulary, which proved useful among their 
countrymen. 

On descending to the level ground below the house 
in which I had slept, I found a palanquin and bearers 
which the officers informed me the prince had sent 
for my accommodation. The officers led the way on 
horseback, accompanied by some who travelled with 
ns ; and my own friends, several of whom were 
Christians, followed ; my former bearers, and empty 




194 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

palanquin, with the bearers of my packages closing 
the line. Thus we passed through comparatively level 
country until we reached the foot of the long oval hill 
on which the city stands, and ascending a height of 
two or three hundred feet, entered the narrow streets 
or pathways leading through the higher parts of the 
town to the pleasant and comfortable dwelling, on 
the western side of the mountain, which had been 
provided for my use. The officers having with great 
kindness installed me in my new abode, departed to 
inform the queen of my arrival. 

The house, occupying an airy situation, was clean, 
and sufficiently furnished for all my requirements, 
and I could not but feel grateful for my safety and 
health during the journey, as well as for the welcome 
accommodation provided for my sojourn in this, to 
me, deeply interesting city. Two Christian officers, 
with the wife of one of them, who had been my tra- 
velling companions from the coast, occupied, at my 
request, the house next to my own, and relieved me 
from all anxiety about providing for the wants of my 
household. 

I received an early visit from the prince, accom- 
panied by an officer whom I had known when he 
was a youth, being one of those sent to England for 
education. The prince, then in his twenty-sixth 
year, was frank and open in his demeanour, and easy 
in his manners. After a most cordial welcome, he 
asked a number of questions respecting the political 
state of Europe, the English and French alliance, and, 
more especially, whether there was any truth in the 



CORDIAL GREETINGS. 195 

report of a French invasion of Madagascar. I told 
him I had seen something of the kind in the news- 
papers, but did not think it likely that France would 
send troops against his country. I then asked if 
there was any truth in a statement which I had seen 
in the English newspapers, to the effect that he had 
become a Eoman Catholic, and had written to the 
Pope to ask that Catholic missionaries might be sent 
to Madagascar. He assured me it was not true, 
though a Eoman Catholic priest was .at the capital, 
and had tried to persuade him to adopt his creed, 
but that he had no wish to become a Catholic. We 
conversed a long time on religion, a subject on which 
the prince manifested great earnestness, speaking 
most favourably of the Christians. It was late in 
the evening before he left. Two companies of Chris- 
tians entered as soon as the prince had departed, 
bearing affecting salutations and welcome from many 
others who could not come. 

In the evening of the following day I received a 
visit from Prince Eamonja, and a relative, also a 
Christian. The meeting affected me much. After 
we had exchanged greetings on his entrance, he knelt 
down by his chair, and in simple terms, but with 
much earnestness and feeling, thanked God for His 
goodness in bringing us together. He then prayed 
for the Christians who had sent me, and implored 
blessings on the believers in Madagascar. He after- 
wards conversed with earnestness, but with gentle- 
ness of manner, about the friends of whom he had 
heard in England, of the afflictions and sufferings of 



196 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

the Christians in his own country, of God's great 
goodness throughout their long season of trial, and 
of their continued increase, both in the city and the 
country. 

On the following day a number of high officers, 
wearing silk lambas over their gold-embroidered 
uniforms, some with heavy gold chains round their 
necks, and large bracelets of the same metal, came to 
my house, having been sent by the queen to inquire 
what was the object of my visit to Antananarivo. 
I replied that it was, as I had stated in my letter, a 
visit, not for purposes of commerce, but of friendship 
only, to her Majesty and the government, to talk 
about things for the good of the kingdom. I also 
stated that I was the bearer of a message of friend- 
ship from England to the government of Madagas- 
car. That as there had been reports of ships coming 
from England to attack Madagascar, the Earl of 
Clarendon, who had been sent to Paris by her 
Majesty Queen Victoria to assist in arranging for 
the peace of Europe after the war with Eussia, had 
ordered a letter to be written to me authorizing the 
statements I had made. I then read the letter to 
the officers, two of whom, understanding English, 
interpreted it to the rest. I also delivered a letter, 
from his Excellency the Governor of Mauritius, for 
the queen, and said I had some presents for her 
Majesty, which I should, be happy to deliver as soon 
as my packages arrived. The officers expressed them- 
selves pleased with my communications, and soon 
afterwards rose to depart. The rustling of their stiff 



I 






GENEKAL WELCOME. 197 

silk lambas, and the jingling of their large loose gold 
bracelets, produced, as they shook hands with me on 
leaving, a somewhat novel effect. 

On the following day an officer from the palace 
came to say that the queen and the government were 
satisfied with the object of my visit, and highly 
gratified with the communications of which I was the 
bearer. Presents of welcome, consisting of one or 
two oxen, sheep and goats, poultry, rice, and eggs, 
were sent by the queen, the prince and princess, 
some of the nobles and others, which I directed my 
Christian friends to dispose of as most suitable. The 
three officers who had conducted me into the city 
came the next day to say, that if there were any 
places in the neighbourhood that I wished to see, 
they were appointed by the queen to accompany me 
at any time that I might choose. 

I had expected that the Christians would rejoice 
in my coming, but had scarcely supposed that my 
presence in the capital would be so generally wel- 
come as it appeared to be, and I endeavoured to 
make the best arrangements possible for encouraging 
and aiding the Christians, while gathering informa- 
tion respecting them. 



198 



CHAPTEE VIII. 

Favourable effect of message of friendship from England — Visits to 
remarkable places — Interview with the commander-in-chief — 
The queen's hospitality— Deeply affecting recitals of sufferings 
of the Christians — Hopes inspired by the results of persecution 
in other countries — Conferences and prayer with the leaders 
of the Christians — Social life among the disciples— The pre- 
valence of prayer — Times and places of united worship — 
Christians from Vonizongo — Conversation with the young — 
Visit of Mr. Lambert to the capital, and his statements to the 
Christians — Places where the martyrs suffered — Farewell visit 
from the prince and princess — Last night with the Christians 
— Departure from Madagascar and return to England — Review 
of the progress and state of Christianity in the country — Re- 
turn of Mr. Lambert to the capital — The last persecution — 
Numbers implicated — Barbarity of the executions— Illness 
and death of the queen — Notice of her character and reign. 

Some account of the general aspect of the country, 
of its natural productions, especially of the rare and 
beautiful plants which adorn its surface, of its aquatic 
vegetation, of the ferns which adorn its woody dells, 
the sombre shade of its primeval forests, its trees of 
graceful form and strange uses, has been already given; 
as well as notices of the manners and customs of the 
people, the fondness of the court for pageantry and 
show on public occasions, together with the hospi- 
tality exercised at the capital. These have already 



CAUSE OF GOVERNMENT OPPOSITION. 199 

been made public,* and would be out of place in a 
simple narrative of the introduction of Christianity 
to the country, of the sufferings which its reception 
brought upon the people, and of its subsequent mar- 
vellous progress amongst them. 

Eeference to the government and its proceedings 
are only reverted to here so far as they relate to the 
condition of the people, and the progress of the gospel. 
Suspicious as the Malagasy were of all foreigners, 
prior to the first friendly visits of the English, and 
instructed as they have since been as to the extent 
to which other countries have become subject to 
English rule, it is not surprising that they should 
have felt uneasy and alarmed by reports of England's 
aggressive intentions towards their country, which 
included the fitting out of a fleet to attack Mada- 
gascar; and we found they were actually building 
a fort to resist such attacks at the time of our arrival 
in the country. 

Political considerations arising out of the false 
accusation of the Christians, as teaching sedition to 
the people and seducing them from the gods of their 
own country to the service of the God of the English, 
preparatory to the transfer of their allegiance from 
one sovereign to the other, had greatly strengthened 
the aversion of the government to the Christian faith 
and their determination to destroy it. At the time 
of my arrival there were recently circulated reports 
of the unfriendly intentions of the English towards 
Madagascar, which caused me to regard as most 

* "Three Visits to Madagascar," and "Madagascar Revisited." 



200 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

timely, and indirectly favourable to the Christians, 
the declaration of the Earl of Clarendon, that the 
British Government desired the prosperity of Mada- 
gascar and had no wish whatever to interfere with 
its internal affairs. I had no doubt that, to the 
arrival of this welcome intelligence at the time of 
my visit, I was chiefly indebted for the friendliness 
manifested towards me, as an Englishman, by the 
government, although I had previously been ac- 
quainted with some of its members in my own 
country. 

The attentions of the government, though unex- 
pected, were not unwelcome, as I hoped they might 
favour the objects of my visit, and I perceived that 
they were gratifying and encouraging to the Chris- 
tians. I accompanied the prince and a number of 
young officers to different parts of the city. On one 
occasion we went to visit some bridges he had erected 
over broad, shallow streams about two miles from the 
capital ; also to the country palace Isoaierana, built 
by Eadama, on a grassy plain to the west of the city. 
As we returned, the prince, pointing to the granite 
rocks at the summit of the southern end of the 
mountain on which the city stands, told me that 
was Amhohijpotsy, the spot on which the first martyrs 
had suffered. As some of the officers in attendance 
on the prince were heathen, I made no inquiries 
about the place, though I gazed repeatedly at the 
spot with feelings of reverence, as well as with 
strong and pecidiar interest. 

I was afterwards invited to accompany the prince 






FEIENDLY VISITS EXCHANGED. 201 

and princess, with their attendants and a number of 
officers, to a pleasantly situated country seat, called 
Mahazoarivo, the grounds of which were planted 
with rare and valuable trees from different parts of 
the island. Vines were also here under culture, and 
the pieces of ornamental water were stocked with 
several kinds of the water-fowl of the country. In 
the front court of the large palace I was among the 
spectators of a large public ball ; and was invited to 
a bull fight, which latter entertainment I begged to 
decline. 

One evening I received a visit from a friend of the 
prince and the Christians, the commander-in-chief, 
successor in office to his father, who had been one of 
the most sanguinary persecutors of the Christians. 
He spoke favourably both of them and of the prince, 
and after expressing the pleasure which the assurance 
of the friendship of England afforded to the govern- 
ment he departed, accompanied by his two attendants, 
herculean men, one of whom was my daily visitor 
and sincere friend, but who died a martyr's death in 
the next persecution. The other was, when I after- 
wards resided in the capital, and is still, a faithful 
and successful preacher in one of the city churches. 

During my stay I was invited, by the order of the 
queen, to a public dinner, where I met the French 
consul, and a French Catholic priest wearing a dress 
coat and embroidered silk waistcoat. I was seated 
beside the judge who had examined and condemned 
the Christians at Analakely in the fearful persecution 
in 1849, a sort of Malagasy Judge Jefferies of 



202 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

that bloody assize, whose name struck terror into 
the minds of the Christians of Madagascar. And 
yet, in a letter received during the present year (1869), 
the Rev. William Cousins, the English pastor of the 
church at Amparibe, informed me that this same 
man had become a believer in Christ, and was one 
of a class who had been four months under regular 
instruction, preparatory to a declaration of his faith 
in the Eedeemer by publicly receiving Christian 
baptism. . 

It was reported that Eamboasalama placed spies in 
the daytime about the premises which I occupied, 
so that few of the Christians visited me except those 
who, as well as heathens, came in considerable num- 
bers asking for medicine ; and as there was no medi- 
cal practitioner at the capital, and many afflicted 
persons, I was thankful to give such plain,' simple 
medicines as I possessed to many of the applicants, 
especially to the sick Christians, who were sometimes 
brought to me from a distance in palanquins under 
the darkness of night. 

I was happy to devote the greater portion of every 
evening to conversation and social worship with the 
Christians. Sometimes those who came consisted 
almost entirely of the widows, orphans, and other 
relatives of those who had died for Christ; and deeply 
affecting were the recitals of their remembrance of the 
stedfastness, faith, patience, and suffering, as well as of 
the tenderness and affection, of those who, to save life, 
had fled to the mountains or forests, wandering in 
unfrequented parts, or hiding from their pursuers in 



CHEERFUL UNDER AFFLICTIONS. 203 

caverns of the earth. Some had thus parted never 
to meet again in this world. Some had fled to dis- 
tant provinces, and others were concealed in pits dug 
in the floor of their dwelling-houses, or in adjacent 
plantations of their friends, whose own lives became 
thereby endangered. Some of those who visited me 
were stroug and cheerful under their trials, others 
comparatively silent; and others were unable to 
restrain the tears which probably afforded relief to 
hearts burdened with the sorrows which they still 
had to bear. I never once heard a syllable of regret 
uttered that they had become followers of Christ at 
such a cost, nor a word of anger or hate towards 
their persecutors. At times I heard an expression 
of belief that God saw it best that they should be 
thus afflicted, and that it would be overruled for good 
to themselves, and, they hoped, to their countrymen. 
Sometimes they would say, " If those who persecute 
us did but know the blessedness of the love of Christ, 
they would love Him too, and save instead of destroy- 
ing those who believe in His name." 

I endeavoured to console them, and to strengthen 
their hope and trust by adverting to the sympathy 
and love of the Saviour, who was afflicted in all the 
afflictions of His people, who knew every pang they 
felt, who did not willingly suffer them to be afflicted, 
and who would never forsake them. I said that if they 
did not see how all things worked together for their 
good in this world, they would probably know here- 
after that their present sufferings had been part of 
the process by which the kingdom of Christ was to be 



204 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

established in Madagascar, and by which their own 
spirits were to be made meet for everlasting blessed- 
ness. 

They were deeply affected on my telling them that 
when the Christians in England heard of their afflic- 
tions, they prayed to God for them in their families 
and in their places of worship; as also when some of 
them observed that there was no persecution in 
England, and I remarked that though there was no 
persecution in the present day, our forefathers in 
past times had suffered in chains, had died in prison, 
and had been burned alive at the stake, for their re- 
gard to the word of God and their faith in Jesus 
Christ. The past sufferings of the Christians of Eng- 
land seemed to make their bond of union with them- 
selves, now passing through the ordeal of fire and 
bloodshed, more close than it had appeared before; 
and I do not exaggerate in stating, that the assurance 
of the sympathy and prayers of the Christians in the 
land from which they had received the knowledge of 
Christ, was one of the most welcome and cheering 
communications I was able to make. 

I necessarily met many undiscovered Christians in 
association with others during the daytime, but any 
recognition on the part of either of us would have 
been dangerous to them, for reports had been circu- 
lated, by unfriendly foreigners, that my real object in 
going to Madagascar was to encourage the Christians 
not to give up praying, but to continue to disobey 
the law of the queen, and that my visit would cause 
more of the queen's subjects to be put to death. But 



CAUTION STILL NECESSARY. 205 

though I could seldom speak to them in the day, I 
arranged to occupy as many evenings as possible 
with the preachers and leaders of the Christians, 
with whom I spent some of the most instructive 
and impressive hours of my life. I sometimes felt 
a solemn awe come over my spirit as I conversed 
with men with whom the Spirit of God was so often 
present. 

The human victims sacrificed, the numbers con- 
signed to chains and slavery, together with at least 
two thousand sentenced to lesser penalties, had for 
the time appeased the government ; while the greater 
circumspection of the Christians themselves rendered 
their discovery more dimcult. The powerful friends 
they had found in the princes of the royal family and 
the new commander-in-chief of the army, also favoured 
their security. Prince Eamboasalama was the recog- 
nised head of the heathen party. He possessed the 
advantages of wealth, and was besides an energetic 
and unscrupulous man. The queen's order to the 
soldiers to seek and arrest the Christians, still read 
at parade every fortnight, rendered the utmost 
caution necessary in all our intercourse, on my part 
as well as on theirs. 

I had so managed as to send a few books to them 
from Mauritius, and I had a small supply with me, 
which were received with the liveliest gratitude. It 
was also my privilege, acting on behalf of my friends 
in England, to relieve, in a slight degree, the wants 
of the most necessitous and distressed. Besides the 
information I was able to give them respecting the 



206 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

deep interest felt by numbers in England, and the 
prayers offered on their behalf, I assured them that 
if by the Holy Spirit's aid they remained faithful to 
their own profession and to their divine Lord, the 
Christians in England believed that their present 
trials would, as had been found in other countries, 
issue ultimately in their own deliverance, and in the 
triumph of the gospel in Madagascar. 

Sometimes they expressed their own views and 
feelings in reference to their sufferings, more fre- 
quently they were silent. On one occasion, when 
I had been speaking on the sympathies and hopes 
cherished in England respecting them, one or two 
answered, " We feel too much, our hearts are too full 
to speak;" then one proposed that we should pray, 
and all knelt down, while in simple but earnest 
language he poured forth the emotions of their hearts 
in supplication and thanksgiving to God. More than 
once, prayer seemed to be the most natural and satis- 
factory manner in which to express their thoughts 
and feelings on our first meeting, and we never parted 
without prayer. 

I presented a number of inquiries to them, in 
writing, respecting their proceedings in relation to 
meetings for worship, the administration of the 
ordinances, and the instructions of the word of 
God which they found most effectual in bringing 
the heathen to Christ, and building up the converts 
in faith and holiness. I inquired also as to the 
social life of the Christians when living together 
or among the heathen; and to all these inquiries I 



NUMBER OF CHRISTIANS. 207 

received truly satisfactory answers. They said that 
when all living in one house were Christians, 
they united in prayer once a day ; that secret 
daily prayer was universal; and that as many 
as could, with safety, attended their weekly assem- 
blies for nightly worship ; that one of the first 
endeavours of an uneducated Christian was to learn 
to read, and that the children of all Christian parents 
were taught to read, and many to write. I could 
obtain no list of the names or numbers of the 
Christians. They said they had never ventured to 
make out any list, either of places of worship or of 
the names of the Christians, lest in the event of 
their own impeachment and capture, or on a forcible 
entrance being made into their houses to search for 
books, it should be discovered and bring trouble on 
them all. 

There were five or six houses in which they occa- 
sionally assembled, and probably about three thousand 
Christians ; but they could not speak with precision 
of their numbers, as many more were said to be 
favourable to the gospel than were personally known 
to those with whom I conversed. They generally 
mentioned to me their arrangements for meeting, 
and many came to my house on the Saturday who 
stated that they were going to a distance for their 
weekly worship. On my asking if I could safely 
attend one of their meetings, they replied it would 
give them all great pleasure, but it could not be 
done safely, as some sick person, or servant of one 
of the officers, might come to my house for medicine, 



208 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

and my absence would excite suspicion, lead to 
inquiry as to the cause, and might involve others in 
trouble. 

Several members from Christian families in the 
country sometimes joined our evening meetings, 
whose simple and almost timid conversation, to- 
gether with their accounts of some who had found 
shelter amongst them, as well as of other Christian 
families in the surrounding country, were highly 
encouraging. Besides these I was repeatedly visited 
by one or two preachers, and by several Christians 
from Vonizongo, a district of Ankova forty miles 
north of the capital. These were intelligent men, and 
their knowledge of the Scriptures was remarkable. 
They were poor, and had evidently suffered much, 
but were firm in their faith in Christ, and hopeful 
for the future. A considerable number of martyrs, 
who had died rather than deny their Saviour, had 
belonged to this district. Nine had been thrown 
over the precipice, and three had been burned alive ; 
but none had witnessed a nobler confession before 
their judges, or had more faithfully and triumphantly 
glorified the Lord Jesus in their death, than these 
Vonizongo Christians. The children of some of those 
who died for Christ fled to distant parts of the 
country, where, though they suffered much, they 
have been faithful witnesses for their Saviour, and 
messengers of mercy to the people. Two or three 
New Testaments, all I was able to give them to 
carry home, were received with unspeakable joy. 

I had also opportunities of conversing with a 



ARKIVAL OF A FJRENCH PEIEST. 209 

number of young men connected with some of the 
higher classes, whom I found, whether favourable to 
Christianity or not, eager to hear about other coun- 
tries different from their own, and apparently thirst- 
ing after knowledge, and ripe for instruction. The 
little acquaintance they had with English I urged 
them to increase by earnest effort, endeavouring to 
kindle their enthusiasm by reference to the advan- 
tages which the opening of their country to the 
commerce of other nations would place within their 
reach, and alluding to their possible influence on the 
future of their country. 

I have already noticed the presence of a French 
priest at the capital. He had recently arrived in 
company with Mr. Lambert, a French merchant 
from Mauritius, and had been left, as I was told, with 
the French consul as Mr. Lambert's mercantile clerk, 
or as teacher of mathematics to Mr. Labord's son. 
I heard, while there, that M. Lambert had expressed 
great indignation at the oppressive conduct of the 
native government, and had shown much sympathy 
with the Christians, giving money to be distributed 
amongst the most destitute ; and that the Christians 
had been told of the advantages that would result to 
them, as well as to other portions of the community, 
from their being taken under French protection. 
They were told that religion in France was entirely 
free to all, and that under the protection of that 
country the queen would not be allowed to persecute 
her people. With Tahiti so fresh in my memory, 
these rumours, had they been nothing else, could not 
P 



210 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

be welcome to me, and in answer to the questions 
of my friends I said it was kind in M. Lambert to 
help them in their distress, but that in the course of 
nature their sufferings must soon terminate; and 
should God raise the prince to the throne, their 
religious liberty would be safe, and the country their 
own. I therefore exhorted them to continue, so 
long as God should allow them to be persecuted, to 
bear their affliction as they had hitherto so nobly 
done, to give their enemies no cause to question the 
loyalty which they had maintained so long, and 
neither to listen to any proposals nor become parties 
to any attempt to depose the queen by force, or to 
place the country under the protection of the French. 
From the time of my arrival I had been anxious 
to see the places where the martyrs had suffered. 
The prince had pointed out to me the first place 
erected for Christian worship at Ambatonakanga, 
afterwards, and at the time of my visit, used as a 
prison. He had also directed my attention to 
Ambohipotsy, where the "first martyrs suffered. A 
Christian friend had conducted me, in the early 
morning, to a spot whence I could obtain a view 
of the Tarpeian rock from which the Christians were 
hurled. Ambohizanahary, where Paul the diviner 
and his companions were put to death, was visible 
from my residence ; and I had also seen Faravohitra, 
where the nobles were burned. I found a melan- 
choly satisfaction in gazing on places which, for 
generations to come, will be associated with the love 
and constancy even unto death, of which the early 



EVE OF MY DEPARTURE. 211 

members of the Malagasy church there gave such 
all-convincing evidence. 

In the message of permission for my visit to the 
capital, a month had been specified as the period of 
its duration; and though, as already stated, I had 
been treated with kindness and hospitality, it was 
evident that my prolonged residence in the country, 
under existing circumstances, would not have been 
agreeable to those in authority, and might have 
been prejudicial to the interests of those whom I 
most wished to serve. I therefore prepared for my 
departure at the appointed time, with feelings of 
thankfulness for having seen and learned so much, 
and not without hope that my visit might event- 
ually prove of service to my friends. 

A day or two before the time fixed for my 
departure, the prince informed me that the princess 
his wife, and a friend, would come and spend with 
me the last evening of my stay in the capital. 
Between six and seven o'clock on the evening 
specified, the prince and princess, accompanied 
by her adopted daughter, the child of the first 
Eadama's sister, arrived, attended by an escort. 
After a slight refreshment the evening passed 
pleasantly and rapidly away. The princess said 
that the queen and the members of the court were 
pleased with my visit, and hoped that nothing would 
occur to interrupt the friendly intercourse between 
England and Madagascar. Speaking of the frequent 
rumours of hostile intentions against them, she said, 
"Why cannot we be allowed to live in peace in our 



212 THE MAETYR CHURCH. 

own country ? We don't interfere with others, we 
are neither invaders nor usurpers. "We inhabit the 
country of our ancestors." She made many inquiries 
about the Queen of England, but the conversation 
chiefly related to education, and the advantages 
which it would give to Madagascar. At ten o'clock, 
the hour at which all persons are expected to be in 
their own houses, the palanquins were ordered, and 
with many expressions of good-will my visitors 
departed, the prince's band playing the English 
" God save the Queen " as they left the premises. 

A number of Christian friends who had been wait- 
ing then entered my house, and others continued to 
come until midnight. They had many of them 
questions to ask, which I endeavoured to answer. 
To two of them, who had obtained from an English 
physician some knowledge of medicine, I gave all 
the medicines I had left, and divided amongst them 
my remaining Malagasy books. I likewise gave 
them a few useful articles, and confided to them 
some others to be sold, requesting that the proceeds, 
together with some money which I left, might be 
distributed amongst the afflicted and destitute. We 
then commended each other to God, and it was 
drawing towards dawn when they left. 

On the morning of the 26th of September I finished 
my packing. Several of my friends, and others to 
whom I had given medicines, brought small presents, 
as expressions, they said, of their sense of my kind- 
ness. Others came to take leave. During the fore- 
noon I called on some of the sick, and went to take 



AKRIVAL OF THE PEINOE. 213 

a farewell look at the rock from whence the Christians 
had been thrown, and the spot where others were 
burned — places of deepest interest to me, and which 
I did not then expect to see again. The queen sent 
bearers, and I was informed that eight officers would 
accompany me, in order that there might be no delay 
in the fever districts. 

About one o'clock the prince and one of the nobles 
arrived. The courtyard in front of my house was 
crowded with people. After a grave conversation 
with the prince and his companion we rose to depart, 
when the prince, with evident emotion, took me by 
the hand, led me out of the house and through the 
crowd to my palanquin, and then entered his own. 
Thus I commenced my homeward journey, receiving 
the recognition of friends as I passed through the 
narrow streets to the open plain, where other nobles 
were waiting. The prince's band preceded us as we 
continued our journey. The afternoon was fine, and 
there had not been a shower of rain while I was in 
the capital. We conversed as we travelled on to 
Ambohipo, where, as the officers who had the arrange- 
ment of the journey proposed to proceed farther, the 
prince took leave of me with evident feeling, as 
did also his attendants ; having commended me to 
the protection of God, he accompanied me back to 
my palanquin, telling the leader of the band to 
go with me to the next halting-place. The prince 
and his companions then entered their palanquins, 
his attendants mounted their horses, and they turned 
towards the capital, while I continued my journey 



214 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

to Betafo, where I found my packages had already 
arrived. 

The Christian friends who had kindly accompanied 
me on my first day's travel returned the next morn- 
ing to the city, and I proceeded towards the coast. 
On my way I passed a surgeon and three French 
priests, — one of them travelling as the surgeon's as- 
sistant ; another was the Abbe 7 Jouen, the principal 
of the Jesuits' College at Eeunion, afterwards Prefet 
Apostolique de Madagascar. These travellers were 
accompanied by a French gentleman with whom I 
was acquainted, and who had kindly brought me 
letters from Mauritius and England. 

Though the season was late I reached the coast in 
safety, but had to wait some time for a ship. In 
reviewing the weeks I had spent at Antananarivo, I 
was deeply impressed with the power and goodness of 
God, as manifested in the marvellous progress of the 
gospel among the people, as well as with the numbers 
and position of the Christians ; and while there was 
much in their circumstances and in their afflictions 
to be deplored, there was also much to demand the 
liveliest gratitude, as promising a happier future. 
All the reports of the progress and effects of the 
gospel which had been sent to England and circu- 
lated amongst our churches, had, by personal inquiry 
and observation on the spot, been more than verified. 
A more correct acquaintance with the standing and 
influence of the Christians had been obtained, as well 
as of the relative position and power of their enemies 
and their friends ; and although grounds of appre- 



RESULTS OF THE FIRST MISSION. 215 

hension, arising from the hostility of the leader of the 
heathen and the probable attempts of the French on 
the country, still existed, there was nothing to diminish 
trust in divine Providence for still greater results, or 
to justify doubt of the final triumph of the gospel in 
Madagascar. 

The last members of the earliest mission left 
Madagascar in 1836. Twenty years had now elapsed 
since these brethren had been forced away. The 
newly gathered church of Christ, strong only in re- 
liance on the truth of God's word and the faith and 
love of Christ implanted by the divine Spirit in the 
hearts of its members, but weak in the immaturity 
and inexperience of its earliest childhood, had sus- 
tained, throughout these twenty years, the combined 
assaults of an idolatry and a despotism as blindly 
fanatical and as recklessly cruel as had ever afflicted 
mankind. This comparatively feeble church had, 
during that period, not only maintained its ground 
unbroken in the conflict, but had gained a more ad- 
vanced position, and was, by increasing power and 
numbers, drawn from every rank of native society, 
gathering strength for future triumphs for Christ its 
Lord. 

What the moral state of the people was when the 
gospel was first brought amongst them, has been 
described in the earlier chapters of this volume. 
And not less remarkable than the outward progress 
of Christianity, has been the influence of the word of 
God and the grace of the Lord Jesus over the hearts 
and conduct of its members, whose lives and cha- 



216 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

racters had become so changed that even the judges, 
before whom they were arraigned, declared that no 
charge could be sustained against the Christians, 
except on the ground of their religion. 

Doubtless there were some to whom this testimony 
would be too favourable ; but they were few — fewer 
in all probability than they have been since. One 
of the earliest causes of bitter hostility against the 
followers of the new religion, was their forsaking and 
resisting the vices and immoralities of the general 
population. That was what they were charged with, 
when accused of changing the customs of the people 
which idolatry sanctioned and authority commended. 
The whole fabric of social life was elevated and puri- 
fied amongst the Christian families, who were, in this 
respect, witnesses for God, as well as in their faith 
and their worship ; and I considered it a privilege to 
have been permitted to see, even for a few weeks, 
such evidences of this divine and wonderful work. 

Having been detained some weeks at Tamatave, 
waiting for a ship, I finally left Madagascar on the 
17th of November for Mauritius, where I obtained 
a passage home in the England, and reached my 
native land in March, 1857. 

Little change in the circumstances of the Christians 
took place after my departure until the return of 
M. Lambert, who reached Antananarivo about two 
months after my arrival in England. That gentle- 
man, on leaving Madagascar in 1856, had proceeded 
to France and to England, to solicit from the Em- 
peror and the English minister the aid of troops to 



TEEACHERY ABROAD. 217 

dethrone the queen of Madagascar, as a means of 
delivering her people from the miseries of her rule. 
Having failed to obtain troops, he returned to the 
island, and, associating himself with several other 
foreigners, proposed, with the assistance of the prince 
and his friends, to deprive the queen of power, and 
instal the prince in her place. But the prince and 
his friends soon withdrew from the project, and the 
former endeavoured to persuade the .French to re- 
linquish the attempt. They, however, thought the 
plan might succeed; "but about a month after the 
first movements, the queen became acquainted with 
the intentions of the conspirators, as well as that the 
French had assisted the Christians. M. Lambert and 
his companions were consequently, at a few hours' 
notice, sent under a guard to the coast, and put on 
board the first ship sailing from the port. 

A month before the foreigners were sent out of the 
country, Katsimandisa, an inferior chief, who had 
been educated by the first missionaries, and had been 
associated with the Christians as one of themselves, 
treacherously made out a list of seventy names of the 
Christians, charging them with being implicated in 
the treasonable plot. This list he carried to one of the 
officers of the queen, who, previous to laying it before 
the sovereign, gave it to the prince. As soon as he 
had read the list, the prince tore it in pieces, and 
ordered information to be immediately given to the 
Christians of their impending danger. 

Whether the Christians were reported as being con- 
cerned in the conspiracy is not stated. I made every 



218 THE MAKTYR CHURCH. 

inquiry ; some said a few might have known of it, but 
none took any part therein, and that the great body 
of them certainly knew nothing about it. In the 
meantime it became known to the queen that numbers 
were in the habit of meeting for worship, and that 
they were encouraged by the French. 

The inhabitants were immediately ordered to as- 
semble to attend a kabary, and the portentous firing 
of cannon on the 3rd of July, 1857, announced that 
a message from the queen would be delivered. Thou- 
sands assembled, and the avenues to the place were 
guarded by troops. The bearer of the royal message 
announced that the queen had heard that there were 
many Christians in and around the capital. These 
were ordered within fifteen da3 T s to accuse them- 
selves, on pain of death. But few reported themselves. 
Soldiers were then sent out to search for Christians, 
and a few were captured, and tortured in order to 
extort the names of their companions. The queen 
was greatly enraged. Additional troops were sent 
in pursuit of the Christians, and the inhabitants of 
the villages, in which they might be harboured, were 
threatened with death if they concealed or succoured 
them, but promised rewards if they captured or re- 
ported them. 

Six Christians were concealed at a village two or 
three miles from the capital, and the soldiers, having 
searched the house in which they were hidden, in a 
pit covered over with straw, were leaving the build- 
ing, when some one within was heard to cough. The 
soldiers renewed their search, discovered the Chris- 



FLIGHT OF THE CHRISTIANS. 219 

tians, and bound them prisoners. The officer then 
ordered the inhabitants of the village to be also 
bound and taken to the capital, for having afforded 
shelter and concealment to their friends. 

The queen was highly incensed against these vil- 
lagers, as well as the Christians, and declared that 
every village should be searched, all the pits exa- 
mined, and even the swamps or rivers dragged with 
nets, rather than the Christians should remain in the 
land. So great was the terror of the people, that the 
inhabitants of whole villages fled. A number of sol- 
diers were sent to arrest Christians at the mountain- 
ous village of Ambohitrabiby, ten miles from Anta- 
nanarivo ; but when the troops arrived the houses 
alone remained, not a single inhabitant was in the 
place. 

During this season of extreme distress and danger 
the Prince Eamonja and the commander-in-chief, 
especially the former, were deeply moved on behalf 
of the Christians, and, whenever it was possible, 
aided their escape, which a number of them effected. 
They also furnished houses for their shelter, with 
the means of subsistence. Maternal instinct on the 
part of the queen, the only one restraining element 
in her cruel nature, not only protected the prince, but 
enabled him, during this period, to save many lives. 

One of the disciples, when told by the officer who 
discovered him that he must take him prisoner, 
asked, " What is my crime ? I am not a traitor. 
I am not a murderer. I have wronged no one." 
The officer replied, " It is not for any of these things 



220 THE MARTYR CHUKCH. 

that I must take you, "but for praying." To this 
the Christian leader replied, " If that is what I am 
charged with, it is true. I have done that. I do 
not refuse to go with you." 

This was the charge on which most, if not all, were 
arrested, and it included reading the Scriptures and 
singing hymns, or the several acts of Christian 
worship. I heard of no instance in which any one, 
when accused, denied the charge, or refused to meet 
the consequences. More than two hundred suffered 
different kinds of punishment, most of them severe. 
The greater number of those who suffered death were 
men of mark, distinguished among the Christians for 
their position, piety, devotedness, ability and useful- 
ness. Fourteen were stoned to death at Fiadana, 
more than a mile distant from Ambohipotsy, as were 
also others afterwards. Fifty-seven, if not a larger 
number, were chained together by the neck with 
heavy iron fetters, and banished to distant parts, 
where more than half of them died a lingering, 
agonizing death in their chains* Fifty took the 
poison, of which eight died. Sixteen, amongst a 
large number reduced to slavery, were redeemed, at 
heavy cost to their friends ; and six devoted, leading 

* An iron ring was passed through an aperture at one end of a 
heavy iron bar, nearly three feet long, and the ring was then riveted 
on the reck of the Christian ; a heavy iron ring was also riveted on 
each ankle. A second ring was passed through an aperture at the 
other end of the bar and riveted on the neck of another Christian, 
and in this manner seven or more were chained together. The 
fetters which I brought home, and which had been worn four and 
a half years by one Christian, weighed fifty-six pounds. 



; K'^' 







COXSOLATIOX TO A CHRISTIAN"' IX FETTERS. 



DEATH BY STONING. 221 

men among the Christians, who had been condemned 
to death, escaped, and remained in concealment for 
four years and six months, often suffering from want 
of food. 

The barbarous, brutalizing mode of inflicting death 
by stoning was a new kind of punishment, devised, 
it is supposed, as the most terrific that could be 
adopted, in the hope of its being successful where 
other methods had failed. The heads of those stoned 
at Fiadana were severed from their bodies, in some 
instances shortening the suffering by terminating 
life; the heads were then fixed on poles. Those 
whose friendly eyes had watched, as near as safety 
would allow, the last moments of the departed, guided 
afterwards the footsteps of friends, who repaired to 
the spot during the hours of the night, to drive off the 
hungry dogs, and to bear away the bruised and 
mangled remains of the martyrs who had that day 
sealed their faith with their blood. These remains, 
regarded with hallowed affection, were received by 
loving hands, and finally consigned in secret to the 
resting-places of their ancestors. 

The wholesale slaughter of 1857, less than twelve 
months after my departure from the capital, although 
the one most deeply felt by the Christians, in con- 
sequence of the number and the character of those 
put to death, was, by the merciful providence of God, 
the last which the Martyr Church of Madagascar was 
called to sustain. Only one other attempt was made, 
and that proved disastrous to its authors alone. 

In June, 1860, the governor of Mananjara, a port 



222 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

on the southern coast, accused two high officers (one 
of them Ratefe, an eminent Christian whom I had 
known at Tamatave, and afterwards corresponded 
with from the capital), and thirty soldiers, of violating 
the laws of the queen by meeting together for 
worship. The accusers and the accused were sum- 
moned to the capital, and the queen ordered the 
test of the tangena to be employed vicariously, as 
was occasionally done in other cases, to discover 
the innocence or guilt of the accused. The result 
of the ordeal declared the accused to be innocent, 
and, according to a practice sometimes followed 
amongst the people, the accuser was sentenced to 
the punishment which would have been inflicted 
on the accused had they been found guilty. The 
man who brought the charge was, in this instance, 
put to death, and this was the last accusation pre- 
ferred against the Christians in Madagascar. 

The first who died on account of their connection 
with Christianity suffered in 1835, soon after the 
departure of the early missionaries. The last who 
laid down their lives for Christ suffered in 1857. 
But notwithstanding the fearful destruction of life 
during this protracted period, two-thirds of the dura- 
tion of a generation, the faith of the Christians was 
stronger, and their love of the Saviour not less, than 
when the first martyrs died for the name of the Lord 
Jesus. But far more remarkable is the fact that 
during all these years of oppression and suffering, 
the number and the influence of the Christians had 
continued steadily to increase. 



CHAEITY OF THE BELIEVERS. 223 

After the expulsion of the French, little intercourse 
was allowed even at the ports, and no foreigner was 
allowed to advance beyond the coast into the country. 
It was some time before the Christians ventured 
to write, and communications from them during 
this period were few. In one of their letters 
which reached England, the writer, in speaking of 
the native Christians, states, "And in respect to 
those who are in concealment and those who are 
in bonds, it is Eakoto and Eamonja who have taken 
on themselves the charge of concealing and protect- 
ing them, and giving them their daily bread. And 
those of their companions who have any property, 
give for this according to their ability ; and those 
of their brethren who are in distress or want, though 
not in bonds or concealment, are looked after and 
cared for by these two princes, sometimes receiving 
from them clothes, rice, and even money. We know 
that such liberality presses hard at times upon their 
means, but they cannot abandon their own afflicted 
brethren, for they are to them as their own flesh" 

Some idea of their circumstances after the last 
persecution may be derived from a letter addressed 
to me by a Christian at the capital in 1861, in which, 
after expressing gratitude to the God and Father of 
our Lord Jesus Christ for preserving their lives, he 
continues : — " Pray, dear sir, that the blessing of Jesus 
Christ may be with us, and with you, and that we 
may be helped to endure the affliction that is so 
severe. May we have love and courage during our 
lifetime upon earth (Bom. v. 8 — 11), and may the 



224 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

God of peace quickly subdue the work of Satan, and 
advance the knowledge of the people respecting 
Jesus Christ (2 Cor. ix. 10 ; x. 45). 

" The distress of the people here is increasing daily, 
for they are in darkness, and have no knowledge. 
The country is not tranquil. There is much war 
with the enemy, so that they are hated and hating 
one another. Therefore we say, pray to God that 
light may spread among us, the people of Mada- 
gascar. Let us ask the God of mercy that darkness 
may be scattered from the land ; and perhaps while 
we both are alive we shall see your face, and shake 
hands with you, dear sir; and even though we be 
not permitted to see one another in this life, may 
God help us to meet in the great salvation that was 
accomplished by our Lord Jesus Christ, to increase 
our gratitude and praise (Luke xxiii. 43 ; 1 Cor. xv. 
52, 57). 

" With respect to the royal prince, indeed, dear sir, 
it causes us to rejoice and bless God that he supports 
and makes the people of God strong to bear the 
affliction and trouble in Madagascar. Yes, what he 
has done he has done by the help of God, and we 
therefore bless the Most High on that account 
(Matt. xvi. 17) ; and not towards the Christians 
alone does he show kindness, but to the people in 
general, when he can." 

So long as the strength of the queen allowed her 
to attend to proceedings amongst the people, Eam- 
boasalama's friends were ready to enforce her orders 
against the Christians, and but little improvement 



ILLNESS AND ALARM OF THE QUEEN. 225 

in their condition was allowed. She was said to 
have been very cruel in her treatment of her people 
generally. But now, as her strength began to fail, 
her severity against the Christians was relaxed. 
Some of the sentences against them were only 
partially executed, and a number sold into slavery 
obtained their freedom. In this altered state of 
things the minds of the people became susceptible 
to alarming impressions, and the queen especially was 
disturbed by strange apprehensions. Fires were said 
to be seen on the land and voices heard in the sky, 
the meaning of which the diviners could not explain, 
though some said these were signs foreshadowing 
death. From this time the queen prayed earnestly 
to the idols and the other objects of her trust, for 
she was afraid. She afterwards became ill, and a 
month later made a journey to a healthy place ; but 
returned weak and wasted. Again the queen went 
out for a charm or medicine, but her disease in- 
creased. The skill of the diviners, the succour of 
the idols, the medicines or charms ordered by the 
sikidy at whatever distance or cost they were to be 
obtained, all failed to revive or stay the failing life. 

The prince was counselled not to leave the palace. 
The princess his wife, and other members of the 
royal family, were also collected within its precincts. 
The high military officers assembled at the house of 
the commander-in-chief. The judges ordered the 
people to circulate no idle rumours in the capital, 
and the commander-in-chief augmented the troops 
in the court of the palace to five hundred. 



226 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

On the 16th of July the queen died. After four- 
teen days had been spent in the observance of the usual 
ceremonies, the body was taken with great pomp to 
Ambohimanga, and on the 30th of July was buried 
there, in the course of the night. The heads of the 
people, according to long usage on such occasions, 
were ordered to be shaved; amusements and the 
use of gay clothing were discontinued ; but few other 
ceremonies of national mourning were observed. 

Eanavalona was the wife given to Eadama by his 
father, with the expression of his will that a child of 
his, of whom she should be the mother, should be his ' 
successor. But she was neither the wife of his choice 
nor the mother of his children, her only child having 
been born twelve months after his death. During 
Eadama's life she occupied no conspicuous position, 
and exercised no commanding influence. After his 
death she continued to encourage Mr. Cameron's 
lectures on chemistry to the young men, and pro- 
moted the secular instruction given by the mission- 
aries. As she had ascended the throne with the 
public assurance that she would not change what 
Eadama had done, she gave permission for the con- 
verts to Christianity to be baptized, as had been 
done before. She also gave the people permission 
to attend the preaching and worship of the mission- 
aries ; and, on their application, sent men, as Eadama 
had done, to work at the press and to transcribe 
writing. 

The assistance in printing was continued for some 
time, but the Christian privileges were withdrawn 



RESULTS OF THE PERSECUTIONS. 227 

almost as soon as granted, and it was only in further- 
ance of secular advantages that any encouragement 
was given. Whatever different elements of her own 
character might have been developed in another 
station of life, or with different associates, it is use- 
less now to imagine. It has been said, even of this 
queen of Madagascar, that she was not incapable of 
acts of personal kindness. But her position as a 
queen called into exercise her fiercest passions and 
indomitable will, fostered and intensified by the 
superstitions of her country, by which she was de- 
clared to be the visible god, invested with absolute 
rule and resistless power. 

By the overruling providence of the supreme Dis- 
poser of the world and the love of Christ Jesus in the 
hearts of the Christians of Madagascar, Banavalona, 
by her fierce and unrelaxed persecution, pursued 
through the greater part of her protracted reign, 
became the instrument of testing, purifying, and 
strengthening in her country that divinely implanted 
faith which the chief energies of her life were 
employed to destroy. 



228 



CHAPTEE IX. 

The end of the persecutions — Radama II. proclaimed king — Pro- 
clamation of religious liberty — The exiles and Christians in 
fetters recalled — The claims of the idols disregarded — The use 
of the tangena and sorcery abolished — The king's orders for 
the administration of justice — His treatment of the conquered 
races — His want of better counsellors — Increase of intemper- 
ance in the country — Return of French traders and priests — 
Voyage to Mauritius— First movement towards the erection of 
the memorial churches — Letter to the king on the subject — 
Arrival in Madagascar— Journey to the capital — Interview 
with the king and queen — Visits from the widows and children 
of the martyrs — Prince Eamonja and the prime minister — 
Visit to Ambohipotsy and Ampamarinana — First Sunday in 
the capital — Deliverance from dread of slavery. 

Persecution on account of religion had now ended 
in Madagascar ; freedom and security were in pros- 
pect ; and not more welcome to weary and suffering 
watchers through the night could be the breaking 
up of darkness and the dawn of day, than were the 
events which we now have to record in that land. 

"We have seen that on the night before the queen's 
decease, the commander-in-chief left the Prince Eoyal 
in the Silver Palace, with a guard of five hundred 
men. It has also been stated that there was a power- 
ful claimant who intended to dispute the right to the 
throne with the prince. Eamboasalama had declared 



EADAMA II. PROCLAIMED KING. 229 

himself ready to acknowledge the rightful heir ; but 
the collecting by himself and his friends of their re- 
tainers under arms, did not inspire confidence in his 
sincerity. The prime minister of the late queen and 
the chief judge of the kingdom favoured this prince; 
but during the night before the queen's death, the 
commander-in-chief not only surrounded the royal 
palace with troops, but also the palaces of the rival 
prince and his adherents; and when, early next 
morning, the appointed signal announced to the com- 
mander-in-chief that the queen had ceased to breathe, 
he placed additional troops around those palaces, with 
orders that they should allow no one to leave. He 
then gathered his own soldiers in and around the court 
of the royal palace, so that when the queen's death was 
publicly announced, Eamboasalama and his friends, 
instead of being able to proceed and claim the throne, 
found that the troops and populace were shouting for 
Eadama and throwing up their caps for joy, while 
they themselves were prisoners. 

The members of the royal family then proceeded 
to Andohalo, where Eamboasalama, Eamonja, the 
Princess Eabodo wife of Eadama, and all the mem- 
bers of the royal family took the oath of allegiance 
to the Prince Eoyal, who was proclaimed king, with 
the title of Eadama II. 

When the people heard the proclamation, they 
shouted Hidbe ! (the Malagasy cheer), and the shout- 
ing spread from the city to the suburbs, and the 
people came out in their holiday attire, for they 
said Eadama was the king they desired. At four 



230 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

o'clock in the afternoon the officers, judges, and 
heads of the people, followed by the troops, pro- 
ceeded to the court of the palace, while Eadama 
came out on the verandah, wearing the crown and 
scarlet lamba. The commander-in-chief then de- 
clared that Eadama was lord of the kingdom, and 
the troops presented arms, while all the people 
shouted their acknowledgment and benediction. The 
young king's appearance affected the people, for 
he seemed, they said, as if he had been weeping for 
his mother. The queen and the commander-in-chief 
then did obeisance at the feet of the king ; and when 
he had asked their confidence, and assured the people 
of his protection, he re-entered the palace, and the 
people retired. 

The king's humane and generous disposition, as 
well as his conduct towards natives and foreigners, 
led all parties to expect great and favourable 
changes. These expectations were in some instances 
realized, but in others painfully disappointed. One 
of his earliest proclamations gave to every man 
liberty to follow such religious worship as he judged 
best, whether heathen or Christian, Mahomedan, 
Catholic, or Protestant, and every man was declared 
free to teach or preach his own religion. At the 
same time, every man, whatever might be his reli- 
gion, or if he had no religion, was required to obey 
the laws of the country. This proclamation relieved 
the heathen from all fear of the king's enforcing 
Christianity upon them. The Mahomedans com- 
prised only a few Arab traders at some of the ports ; 






JUSTICE TO A CHRISTIAN WIDOW. 231 

and the Christians were well content to be protected 
and free. The only Catholics were the French, and 
perhaps some of their dependents. 

The condition of the banished ones also received 
the early attention of the king and his chief minis- 
ter, who sent promptly and recalled all who were in 
exile or concealment on account of their religion. 
Messengers were also sent to bring to their homes 
the brnised, emaciated, feeble, and dying Christians 
who had been banished in heavy fetters. The king 
restored, as far as practicable, the lands and other 
property of those whose possessions had been for- 
feited for refusing to worship the idols of the 
country. 

A Christian widow who had survived the torture 
of fetters in the last persecution, whose husband had 
been stoned to death, and whose property had been 
divided as spoil amongst the officers by whom the 
Christians were condemned, came one day while I 
was with the king to complain that her plot of land — 
her only means of support — had been appropriated 
by a rich and powerful chief, who refused to restore it. 
The king listened patiently, inquired if it was so, 
and when the widow's statement was confirmed, told 
her not to grieve, and said her land should be restored 
to her. He then sent to the chief to ask why the 
land had not been restored ; and directed the officer to 
say that it was no crime to pray to God, but a thing 
to be rewarded rather than punished, and that it 
was suffering enough to the woman that her husband 
had been killed; at the same time ordering the 



232 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

chief to restore the land, or to give another piece 
equally valuable. The widow came to me about a 
fortnight afterwards to say that God had caused her 
to obtain a good piece of land, adding that she 
" blessed God that Eadama was king." The king also 
set at liberty those who, for the same cause, had been 
sold into slavery. He welcomed the banished exiles 
on their return, and encouraged the Christians by 
giving them buildings for public worship; one at 
Ambatonakanga, where the first Christian temple in 
Madagascar had been erected, and another at Ana- 
lakely, where the government workshops had for- 
merly been situated, in which many of the Christians 
had been employed. These and other favours not 
only cheered the Christians, but deterred others from 
annoying them, who, while desirous of pleasing the 
king, regarded with disapproval the increase of the 
adherents to what they termed the faith of the 
foreigners. 

Eadama had long lost all faith in the idols. On 
one occasion, when the priests had been boasting of 
their power, and that nothing could harm them, the 
king sent some Christians to set fire to the house 
of Eamahavaly, one of the national idols, and watched 
with his companions, from the front of his dwelling, 
the ascending flames of the burning idol-house. He 
never afterwards put any faith in the representa- 
tions of the priests or the power of the idols ; that 
occurrence also greatly weakened their hold upon 
the young men of the period. 

No idols were retained in the king's palace, and 



THE TANGENA ABOLISHED. 233 

he required neither the attendance nor official ser- 
vices of the priests. Although leaving the people who 
believed in them free to employ the priests and to 
present offerings, he declined to afford them the sanc- 
tion of his own example, either by gifts or homage. 
When the priests on one occasion reminded him of 
the benefit his ancestors had derived from the idols, 
and said the present of a bullock would secure the 
favour of the god, he replied, that he doubted whether 
the god would derive any benefit from the gift, add- 
ing, " If the god wants an ox, let him come and ask 
me for one." 

The king also prohibited the use of the tangena, 
or poison, not only as a means of discovering the 
guilt or the innocence of any one accused, but for 
every other purpose. He also abolished the practice 
of sorcery, or the calculating of destinies, by which so 
many infants had been destroyed, and ordered that 
in trials before the judges the innocence or guilt of 
parties accused should only be decided according to 
evidence, publicly brought forward at the trial. 

Eadama had been accustomed, when only prince 
royal, personally to superintend the public works in 
which he and his friends engaged, such as improving 
the roads in the capital, or building bridges over 
some of the adjacent rivers ; and he now made him- 
self still more accessible to the people, endeavouring 
to secure right and justice to those who, after per- 
sonal inquiries, he had reason to believe had suffered 
the wrong of which they complained. 

The king's treatment of the Sakalava chiefs, and 



234 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

others taken in war and held in slavery, whom he 
sent home to their own country with presents and 
with the bones of their countrymen who had died in 
Imerina, bound the hearts of those races to him by 
the strongest ties ; and had his conduct in other 
respects been as wise and as considerate as it was in 
his treatment of these conquered people, he might 
have attached to himself and have reigned over a 
community co-extensive with the entire country, 
united by affection and confidence to their sovereign. 
These acts of Eadama after he had become king — 
viewed in association with his conduct and disposi- 
tion towards the people before his mother's death — 
were sufficient to produce the enthusiasm with which 
so many at that time regarded him, and to strengthen 
the confidence and hope which his accession to the 
throne had inspired. 

What the young king now most wanted to enable 
him to realize the advantages of his elevation, so as 
to prove a blessing to his people, was a more just 
sense of the responsibilities of his high position, 
more true and disinterested friends in his foreign 
associates, and more able native counsellors. Only 
three of the ministers of the late reign were retained 
among his own advisers, and the one whom he most 
trusted was probably, in regard to character, judg- 
ment, and principle, the least worthy of his con- 
fidence. In .the rest of the offices of government, 
including the highest judicial post, the king placed 
young men connected with different families or 
parties from those who had long held the highest 



INCREASE OF INTEMPERANCE. 235 

offices, or had been associated with the government ; 
many of these young men had been the companions 
of his own early years. The secular enactments of 
the king were so opposed to the views of his prime 
minister, who had been the commander of the forces, 
and the chief instrument of placing him on the 
throne, that the latter seldom took any part in the 
business of the government. 

The king was told of the advantages of free trade, 
and ordered the ports to be opened to the ships of 
all nations, abolishing at the same time all custom- 
house duties. The first evil resulting from this was 
the inundation of the land with ardent spirits, sixty 
thousand gallons of rum from Mauritius having been 
imported in one week. Eetail houses for the sale 
of intoxicating drink were opened in all the chief 
villages, especially in the main thoroughfares of traffic, 
and a vast amount of intemperance, with its attend- 
ant miseries, ensued. This act also created great dis- 
satisfaction among a large number of officers whose 
salaries, having previously been paid out of the 
custom-house dues, ceased with their abolition. 

Among the first foreigners who proceeded to the 
capital, after the opening of the ports, were the 
French consul and M. Lambert, with some Catholic 
priests. Others soon followed. The benevolent and 
cheerful disposition of the young king made him fond 
of the company of foreigners, whose convivialities con- 
duced to the more frequent indulgence in those habits 
which his best friends deplored ; while his impulsive 
nature, unrestrained passions, and love of pleasure 



236 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

seemed to be strengthened by the means of indul- 
gence now at his command, rather than restrained 
by a sense of the obligations with which his position 
was associated. Unhappily for him, the companions 
"who, as political adherents, exercised the greatest 
influence over him, seldom expressed dissatisfaction 
with his personal conduct ; while others sought the 
accomplishment of their own purposes by encou- 
raging those excesses into which he was too easily 
led. 

Among the earliest acts of his reign, the king had 
sent information of the opening of the ports to the 
governors of Mauritius and Be union, inviting the 
merchants to resume trade with the country, and 
also assuring exiles of a welcome to their homes, if 
they chose to return. On receipt of this intelli- 
gence, Sir William Stevenson, Governor of Mauritius, 
sent a mission, headed by Colonel Middleton, to the 
capital, with congratulations and presents to the 
king. The embassy was welcome, not only to the 
king and his government, but to the great body of 
the people, who rejoiced in the reception of these 
official communications of friendship from the 
English. Colonel Middleton and his companions 
returned gratified with their reception, and with the 
apparent prospects of the country. Mr. J. J. Le 
Brun, accompanied by a Malagasy Christian, also 
visited the Christians at the capital, and received 
from the king assurances of his earnest desire for 
the return of missionaries, and the extension of the 
gospel among the people. 



VOYAGE TO MAURITIUS. 237 

At the same time information of the accession of 
the king, and of his desire that the missionaries 
should resume their labours, was sent by the 
Christians in the capital to the London Missionary 
Society, also messages expressing the wish of the 
king that I should return to Madagascar; in con- 
sequence of this the society invited me to comply 
with the wish, so far as to go out again and arrange 
for re-establishing the mission which, as soon as prac- 
ticable, they were anxious to send to this important 
field, to which divine Providence had now opened 
the way. 

The intelligence I had personally received ex- 
pressed the wish of the native Christians that I 
should proceed to their assistance, and towards the 
close of November, 1861, I sailed again for Mau- 
ritius on my way to Madagascar. On reaching Port 
Louis at the end of the year, I was gratified by the 
report of the embassy sent by the governor, and the 
tidings received by Mr. Le Brun. I also found 
letters from the Christians, and an invitation from 
the king, urging me to proceed to the capital without 
delay. The season was at that time unfavourable 
for entering Madagascar, but I was able to send 
letters occasionally, as well as to collect information 
respecting the actual state of the people. I heard 
that Eoman Catholic priests were already at Tama- 
tave, and also at the capital, but that the whole body 
of the Christians were anxious for their former 
teachers, or for others sent from England. 

It had occurred to me, when reflecting on the 



238 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

places where the martyrs had suffered, that it would 
be a means of great benefit to the Christians of this 
generation, in which the martyrs had died, and 
perhaps of greater value to succeeding generations, 
if these spots could be coDsecrated to the service of 
the true God, by the erection on them of substantial 
stone churches for His worship ; and that the builoV 
ings might also be memorials of the constancy and 
faith of the men and women who, in these places, had 
yielded up their lives rather than deny that divine 
Saviour who had redeemed them by His own pre- 
cious blood. These sites were also eligible in posi- 
tion; and as I heard that the foreigners at the 
capital were purchasing land in different places, it 
appeared to me that it might be too late to secure 
them when I should arrive, as they might then have 
been previously disposed of. 

I therefore wrote to the king, congratulating him 
on his accession to the throne, and informing him that 
I was only waiting at Mauritius for the healthy 
season, to set out for the capital ; adding also that if 
agreeable to him, I wished him not to allow the places 
where the Christians had been put to death to be 
sold or built upon until I should arrive, as I might, 
when I had seen them, think it well to write to the 
friends in England on the subject, as they might wish 
to build on these spots churches for the worship of 
God, and so perpetuate among the Christians in 
Madagascar the memory of the faith and hope of 
their fellow-believers, who had died on account of 
their love to Jesus Christ. 



STAET FOE MADAGASCAR 239 

This letter I sent, with a few Malagasy books for 
the Christians, by a trusty Malagasy catechist then 
sailing from Mauritius, directing him to proceed to 
the capital and give the letter to the proper officer to 
lay it before the king, and to say that he would wait 
to bring back any letter the king might have to send. 
In due time the messenger returned with a letter 
from Kadama, stating that he and the officers of the 
government approved of my proposal, that the pieces 
of ground were vacant, and should neither be sold 
nor built upon until I came. This communication — 
which was the first movement towards the building 
of the memorial churches, a work which has already 
produced a far more important effect upon the minds 
of the people than I ever expected to live to see — 
being thus successful, greatly encouraged me. I had 
only seen the places from a distance, and did not feel 
justified in taking any further steps until I had per- 
sonally examined them. 

As early as it was safe to attempt to travel 
through the fever districts of Madagascar, I prepared 
for the voyage, and the owners of the Jessie Byrne 
having generously given me a passage, I embarked 
on the 17th of May, 1862 ; two young Malagasy 
officers, a German naturalist, several traders, and a 
number of exiles, one of whom on a former visit I 
had seen in chains, being my companions. On enter- 
ing the harbour of Tamatave, on the morning of the 
fifth day from Mauritius, the flag of Eadama, floating 
over the battery, was the first symbol which greeted 
us of the great change in the state of the country. 



240 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

A boat from the shore brought off several Chris- 
tians to welcome me, who said that messengers 
from the king were waiting to conduct me to 
the capital. When I landed towards evening a 
crowd had gathered on the beach, and when I 
stepped on shore an officer came forward and handed 
me a letter from the king, of which he was the 
bearer. Another officer bade me welcome on be- 
half of the governor and of the local authorities, 
saying that accommodation had been duly provided 
for me. 

In the meantime the Christians gathered round, 
and with cordial greetings walked with me to the 
house of a friend who had been among the first to 
welcome me on shore. It was strange to be thus 
walking and talking publicly through the village 
with men to whom on former occasions I could only 
speak by stealth, within closed doors and under the 
darkness of night, while friends kept watch at the 
gate to prevent surprise, sudden seizure, and perhaps 
death. Many friends joined the family with whom 
I was a guest, delighting to tell of the marvellous 
change which had taken place, as well as of the 
growing feeling in favour of the gospel. 

The next day I met the Christians in a house 
which the king had given them as a place of wor- 
ship. There were about sixty persons present. The 
portions of Scripture read, the expression of their 
own feelings in connection with our meeting, their 
standing up and singing aloud with cheerful voice, a 
part of worship which I had before only heard offered 



INTEMPERANCE AND IMMORALITY. 241 

in an undertone or whisper, as well as their simple, 
fervent and appropriate prayers, were to me deeply- 
impressive. There were exiles present who had tied 
from persecution, and at the close of the meeting 
they sang, with indications of the most joyous feel- 
ing, the native jubilee hymn relating to the captive 
and the exile's return. The assembly seemed unwill- 
ing to separate ; and when I remembered our meet- 
ings, not far from the same spot, in former days, I was 
not surprised at their strong and grateful feelings. 

On Sunday I attended worship at the native 
church, where about a hundred were present. There 
were a large number of foreign traders and seamen on 
shore. Spirituous liquors had been largely imported, 
and intemperance and immorality appeared to be 
greatly increasing among the people. 

On the 31st of May I took leave of my kind host, 
and set out for the capital. The number of travellers 
on the road seemed increased since my last visit, as 
well as the drovers with herds of cattle, of which 
10,000 are exported to Mauritius annually. The 
meeting and conversing with Christian brethren, and 
the receipt of frequent letters from the capital on the 
way, were truly cheering. The only drawbacks were 
the drunkenness and quarrelling of the natives in 
the houses for retailing rum, and the humiliating 
spectacle sometimes seen of a whole village intoxi- 
cated before twelve o'clock in the day. 

As we advanced towards Ambatomanga, in the 
province of Imerina, a large company of men were 
waiting by the road-side. When we approached they 

R 



242 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

all rose and commenced singing a hymn. I alighted, 
and as soon as we had exchanged greetings, they in- 
formed me that they had been sent by the Christians 
in the capital to meet and bid me welcome. When I 
had thanked them we resumed our journey, the com- 
pany singing as they walked — a mode of greeting 
which I had received from the Christians in South 
Africa. Towards evening we entered the picturesque 
village of Ambatomanga, and halted at the house 
appointed for my lodging. With some of the Chris- 
tians I had been previously acquainted, but all ex- 
pressed their pleasure at our arrival. The presence 
of the mother of one of our company, who had fled 
for his life, and the relative of another who had been 
sold as a child into slavery, added to the general 
gladness. A large number attended our evening 
worship, and my companions had so much to tell 
that it was late before they left for the night. 

The next day was Sunday, and a number of the 
people of the village attended our worship. Andri- 
ambelo, one of the friends from the capital, who, 
when I had last seen him, was an exile flying from 
place to place with his life in danger, preached an 
excellent discourse to a numerous assembly. We 
had just closed the evening service when the king's 
secretary and others arrived, informing me that they 
had been sent by the king and queen to conduct me 
to the capital. Our congregation was considerably 
augmented by the new comers, and one of the 
preachers proposed that our worship should be con- 
tinued, as no one seemed disposed to leave. Another 



ARRIVAL AT THE CAPITAL. 243 

simple discourse, followed with prayer, closed the 
services of this deeply affecting and most interesting 
day. 

Although the officers who had come to welcome 
me joined in our Sabbath services, it was not until 
the next morning that they delivered the letter from 
the king, of which they were the bearers, express- 
ing his pleasure on my arrival. Our party, though 
large when we set out for the capital, was now 
considerably augmented by our meeting on the road 
officers sent with letters of welcome, and messengers 
with the one universal request that if I had any Bibles 
I would promise one of them to the applicant, or 
writer of the letter. I knew they were Christians who 
made this request, and gladly promised copies, adding 
that a larger supply, with the expected missionaries, 
would soon arrive. 

The inland mountain city of a thousand towns, as 
the name Antananarivo implies, had long been visible 
before we reached the small village of Ambohipo. 
Here we halted for a time, and on reachingthe base 
of the mountain commenced the ascent to the city. 
Passing through the ancient stone gateway of Anka- 
dibevava (the great mouth of the ditch), we crossed 
the summit of the hill and descended on the western 
side, halting at the edge of a wide hollow, or ravine, 
in the yard of the house appropriated for my resi- 
dence. Here the officers gave me possession, and 
then went to inform the king of my arrival. 

For some hours the Christians came in one con- 
tinued stream to bid me welcome. Among them 



244 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

Kamaka, an energetic man of middle age, who had 
been zealous for God during the time of the perse- 
cution; he had been subjected to the tangena, and had 
passed some years in prison bound so tightly that 
his flesh had been deeply cut by the cords. Later 
in the evening a number of the native preachers 
came, expressing their wish that we should unite in 
acknowledging the divine goodness in allowing us to 
meet under circumstances so full of enjoyment and 
of promise. 

The next morning I received a number of welcomes 
and presents, the latter in abundance. The animals, 
including several oxen, sheep and pigs, besides 
poultry, I gave to the Christians to take care of, in 
case I might want them; the superabundance of 
other edibles I was glad to distribute among the poor. 
I only had occasion to apply for one of the oxen after- 
wards, which I gave to the workmen on the day 
when we laid the foundation-stone of the first 
memorial church. 

Soon after noon an officer came to conduct me 
to the palace, where the king and queen received, 
with evident satisfaction, the communications which 
I was able to make, relative to the friendship of the 
English Government, and the intention of the London 
Missionary Society to send religious teachers to 
Madagascar. I then delivered the letters which the 
Governor of Mauritius had confided to my care, one 
of them being the copy of a letter from Queen 
Victoria, to the reading of which, by the secretary, 
the sovereigns and officers listened with profound 



THRONGS OF VISITORS. 245 

attention. The king said the assurance of the con- 
tinned friendship of England was exceedingly welcome 
and encouraging. The elder of the officers who had 
accompanied me from Mauritius, and the exiles who 
had returned, were then allowed to enter and present 
their hasina, or expression of loyalty to the sovereign. 

During the remainder of this day my house was 
literally thronged with visitors ; amongst others four 
of the widows of those who had suffered martyrdom 
since my former visit came, with their children, to see 
me. The husbands of some of them had been stoned 
to death, others had died in the heavy fetters in which 
they had been banished to different parts of the 
country. They said that from forty to sixty had 
suffered this punishment. With some of these men 
and their families I had held frequent intercourse in 
1856. Other survivors of that last cruel persecution 
also came. The details which these women, or rather 
their companions, gave of the capture, condemnation, 
torture, and suffering of the departed was most 
harrowing, as they described the cruel manner in 
which they were stoned to death, or in which the 
massive irons were riveted on their persons, or the 
hunger and sickness they endured before released 
from their misery by death. 

There was an indescribable appearance of shrinking 
from the contemplation of such suffering, especially 
on the part of the women, whose manner was 
generally subdued and silent ; but, at the same time, 
there was an irrepressible sense of the intensity of 
that suffering in the expression of their countenances, 



246 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

which seemed in an astonishing manner to change 
and to indicate calmness, if not joy, so soon as they 
spoke of the stedfastness of the sufferers, or made 
any allusion to their present condition. 

Afterwards the widow of another noble-hearted 
man, who had suffered death in the same persecution, 
came, attended by an interesting young woman whom 
she called her daughter, and a Christian slave who 
had shared in their sufferings, and was regarded 
almost as a child; companionship in suffering for 
Christ, as well as fidelity in the hour of trial, having, 
as in more than one instance I had occasion to 
observe, supplanted the tie between owner and slave 
by closer and holier bonds, superior to any merely 
social or earthly relationship. Many were the in- 
stances they recited of the perils and sufferings of 
the departed, before the death which the proto- 
martyr Stephen died brought them relief. 

I had received a number of valuable communica- 
tions from the deceased husband of this widow; 
and when I showed the survivors his signature to 
the last letter I received from him, written not long 
before he suffered, they were deeply affected. They 
remained with us to family worship, and I have 
seldom noticed more tenderness of feeling in singing 
than they evinced on that occasion. My own deep 
interest in this aged widow was not diminished when 
I afterwards heard that she had desired to secure the 
mangled body of her martyred husband for burial, 
and had, through the efforts of her friends, obtained 
the head, which had been carefully preserved in a 



MESSAGE FROM THE PRIME MINISTER. 247 

box in her own room until it could be safely buried 
among the graves of his family. We almost shudder 
at a state of society in which so ghastly an object 
could alleviate distress or be cherished as a treasure, 
and yet I met with few more sensible, benevolent, 
useful and considerate Christians than this honoured 
martyr's widow. 

Having been informed that Prince Bamonja, the 
friend of the Christians during their season of per- 
secution, and a partaker of their sufferings, was 
seriously ill and wished to see me, I visited him on 
the following day. He appeared feeble and suffer- 
ing, but expressed his gratitude for the altered cir- 
cumstances of the Christians. He seemed glad to 
hear that a doctor was coming with the expected 
missionaries. His son returned with me to join the 
Christians, a number of whom now began to meet for 
worship at my house every evening, where also four 
of them slept every night in the outer room to insure 
my safety. 

Early the following morning a message came from 
the prime minister, in consequence of which I went 
to his residence. To his inquiries about the objects 
for which the missionaries were coming, I replied 
that schoolmasters and printers would also come; 
that their objects were educational and religious; 
that the missionaries would not be allowed to engage 
in trade, but would teach the people to fear God 
and honour the king, would obey the laws and pro- 
mote the welfare of all classes, both for this life and 
the life to come. He said he knew that this was the 



248 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

chief object of the missionaries ; that the true Chris- 
tians were always to be trusted; that he esteemed 
them very highly, had protected many in his own 
house in times of persecution, and would continue to 
afford them all the protection in his power. With 
regard to persecution, he said he had strongly advised 
the king against allowing anything of the kind, and 
that on this subject the king's opinion exactly 
coincided with his own. 

When formerly in the capital I had only been 
able to look from a distance at the spots where the 
martyrs suffered. I now took an early opportunity, 
being in the neighbourhood of Ambohipotsy, of visit- 
ing the place where the first martyrs were put to 
death. It is situated on the northern declivity of the 
hill, a rugged and dreaiy region, long used as a place 
for public executions. Parts of the rude earthworks, 
or fortifications, by which this end of the city was 
defended, still remain near a path leading past 
some stone quarries to the cultivated plain below. 
The most perfect of these is part of a ditch, about 
four or more feet in width, and somewhat more in 
depth. A little beyond an ancient, unhewn stone 
pillar, where the path crosses the ditch, the first 
martyrs suffered death in 1836-7. A number of 
human bones lying near the spot were pointed out to 
me as marking the place where the Christians suf- 
fered, and that possibly some might be the bones of 
martyrs. 

My companions, some of whom had witnessed the 
executions, said that a number of Christians had 



THE TAEPEIAN ROCK. 249 

been put to death here. A few rude, low mounds, 
marking the spots where by special indulgence the 
friends of a criminal had been allowed to bury the 
body, were visible. The lower end of a cross, on 
which a renowned Sakalava warrior taken in battle 
had been crucified, was still standing near the fosse* 

In the early part of one memorable day I had 
visited the upper portion of the Tarpeian rock of 
Antananarivo. It is a precipitous part of the western 
side of the massive hill on which the city is built. A 
narrow path runs north and south along the western 
edge, which, for about two yards from the outer ex- 
tremity of the path, is bevelled or rounded off, form- 
ing a sort of projecting curve. From this the rock 
bends inwards for a depth of about fifty feet, where 
it rests upon a lower stratum. This, which projects 
still further out, is then bevelled or rounded off, 
curving slightly inwards for a second depth of about 
fifty feet. Below this, broken masses of rock are 
heaped up for about the same depth, so that, viewed 
in profile, the precipice exhibits two successive 
rounded ledges of rock, with a mass of broken frag- 
ments of stone at the base, the whole at least a 
hundred and fifty or sixty feet below the upper 
edge. 

On reaching the ground below I was struck with 

* I visited the same place a short time afterwards with Mr. and 
Mrs. Toy. Mr. Toy has gathered a congregation that now meets for 
worship in the memorial church erected on the high ground a 
little to the north of the hollow or fosse. On this occasion I took 
a photograph of the spot where the first martyrs suffered. 



250 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

the appalling aspect of the place. Large blocks and 
rugged fragments of granite of different sizes lay con- 
fusedly heaped up at the base of the precipice, and 
must have fearfully broken and mangled the bodies 
falling from the upper edge. An involuntary shudder 
passed over me as I looked up from ledge to ledge, 
or gazed on the masses of granite lying at the foot 
of the precipice ; but it appeared to me more fear- 
fully appalling to look down from the upper edge, than 
upwards from the rocks below. And this was the 
place at which thirteen men and women were hurled 
down the rock of death — their only crime being their 
refusal to abjure the name of Christ, and to swear by 
the idols of the country. 

One of the high officers of the palace, as he told me 
in conversation afterwards, had said to his com- 
panions on that day, " Let us go and see how these 
Christians behave. They are said not to be afraid to 
die." And when I asked what effect the executions 
produced on his mind, he said he could not describe 
it. " We were near," he said, " and saw all that took 
place; but the Christians were not afraid, and did 
not recant." 

On the first Sunday that I spent in the capital, 
I went to Analakely. I was told about seven o'clock 
that the chapel had been full ever since day- 
break, and that in about an hour the first congrega- 
tion would leave the place, and another would 
assemble. The son of Eamonja with a number of 
young chiefs accompanied me at the appointed time, 
and as we approached the long, low-roofed building, 



THE CHAPEL AT ANALAKELY. 251 

open on the side towards us, in which the Christians 
were assembled, we perceived they were at prayer, 
and stopped. The young chiefs took off their hats and 
remained standing until the prayer was concluded, 
when we entered. 

On the side of the building opposite the entrance 
there was a raised space covered with matting, on 
which was a small table and a chair, which I was 
requested to occupy. On my right hand the house 
was filled to the farthest extremity with Christian 
women, some grey with years, others young persons 
and children, many of them well dressed, and all 
decent and becoming both in appearance and 
demeanour. Around me were the preachers and a 
number of officers, and on my left was one densely 
packed crowd of men ; while along the open front 
were half as many outside as there were within. 

When I looked round on that large assembly, as 
they stood up and poured forth their loud and joyous 
hymns of praise, and recalled the time when we 
could only meet a few together in secret and in com- 
parative silence ; and when I further contrasted the 
air of joyous freedom and conscious security beaming 
in almost every countenance, with the sorrow occa- 
sioned by some mournful loss, or the trembling 
anxiety of those who were themselves, at that former 
period, proscribed and had their lives given them for 
a prey, I was filled with wonder and delight. I 
was not surprised now that in the letters I received 
from some of them, when describing their present 
state, they had said, " We are like them that dream." 



252 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

After the hymn was concluded and the 91st Psalm 
had been read, I offered our thanksgivings to the 
Most High, and then spoke to the people of His 
mercy to those who had departed, and to those who 
could now call upon His name without fear or 
trouble. One of the native preachers then read, 
prayed, and delivered a short but encouraging dis- 
course, and the service closed. Joy seemed beaming 
on every countenance, and amid many friendly greet- 
ings the people separated. There appeared to me to 
be not less than a thousand persons present, probably 
more. 

The places of worship at Ambatonakanga and 
Amparibe, in the same neighbourhood, were, when 
I visited them, equally crowded ; and the assemblies 
gathered seemed to experience the same devout and 
joyous feelings. The building at Amparibe was 
large, and at the first service I attended there were 
at least one thousand persons present. The house 
at Ambatonakanga was smaller, and the attendants 
fewer in number. Besides these three principal 
places of worship, smaller numbers were accustomed 
to meet for worship in other parts of the city. 

I have already mentioned the early recall, by the 
king, of the survivors of those who had been ban- 
ished for undiscovered crimes of the past, which had 
been acknowledged according to the order and in 
reliance on the clemency of the queen. The restora- 
tion of such fugitives as having been sentenced to 
death had escaped, and had remained for years exiles 
and wanderers, was not delayed. They were brought 



EETURN OF THE FUGITIVES. 253 

on their return first into the house of the commander- 
in-chief, who spoke kindly and encouragingly to them, 
and told them they might go to their homes in safety, 
for now Eadama was king, and no injury would come 
to them. 

As they passed through the streets their country- 
men crowded to look at them. The report of their 
return greatly astonished the people, then assembled 
in great numbers at the capital. Most of the 
Christians knew that they were living, but others 
supposed they had long since been dead. Numbers 
came to see them, saying, "We thought you had 
long ago been buried or eaten by the dogs, and when 
we heard you were here, we could scarcely believe it 
was you. It is like coming again from the dead." 
And some said, " Great is the power of God." 

Messengers had been sent for the survivors of 
those Christians who had been bound in heavy 
fetters ; and on my arrival I found some of them — 
feeble, wasted, bedridden sufferers ; yet to them and to 
their friends this return was indeed a jubilee, but a 
jubilee kept with tears, and with touching memories 
of the absent ones. To some it was like coming to their 
Christian home and friends to die ; to others it was 
to live and to rejoice in the free course of the gospel 
in their country. 

The suffering connected with these fetters did not 
always end with the recall of the wearer and their 
removal from his person. One instance of this may 
suffice. An excellent Christian woman in middle 
life, a worshipper at Analakely, who often visited 



254 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

my house, when I was about to leave Madagascar 
gave me the fetters which her husband, a soldier, 
had, on account of his faith, worn four years and a 
half on his person, in banishment in the province of 
the Antsianaka. His wife had accompanied him on his 
agonizing journey as far as the soldiers would allow 
her to go, and then returned home. During his long 
months of suffering, she borrowed money to send 
him a little clothing and bedding, with such other 
comforts as she could procure. On his liberation 
by the proclamation of Eadama he went to the 
north, where he had been previously a soldier. After 
I had left Madagascar, the officer who had lent the 
money required it, and, as the poor woman had no 
means of paying, it was expected that the lender 
would sell the debt for what it would fetch, when 
the purchaser, if no other prospect of obtaining the 
money presented itself, would have the debtor 
appraised and sold for what she would fetch if 
bought for a slave. This calamity threatened Eazafy, 
who had given me the fetters. 

Mr. Cameron informed me of the danger of 
this Christian woman being sold under the circum- 
stances as a slave, and asked if something could not 
be done to save her. I wrote by the next mail re- 
questing him to pay the money immediately, and I 
would be responsible. I had no difficulty in obtain- 
ing even a larger sum than was ultimately required. 
The distressed woman had herself been working hard 
in making silk lambas or scarfs towards discharging 
the debt. Mr. Cameron wrote in reply to say that 



RAZAFY SAVED FROM SLAVERY. 255 

my letter did not arrive a day too soon; that Ea- 
zafy had been appraised, but that he sent by two of 
the Christian ministers the sum of money owing to 
the creditor, who gave her a discharge in full. In a 
letter which she wrote to me soon afterwards she 
expressed her sense of God's great goodness. How 
few amongst us can understand one simple item of 
her gratitude ! — " I can sleep at nights now." 



256 



CHAPTER X. 

Teaching English — The king not a Christian — Early commence- 
ment of Sabbath services — Conversations with the Christians 
— Influences favouring the reception of the gospel — Family 
religion — Parental attention to the young— The mother's 
good influence — Statistics of the progressive increase of the 
Christians during the successive persecutions — Astonishing 
results — Influence of character — Arrival of foreign embassies 
— Visits to the places where the martyrs suffered — Present to 
the English embassy — Notice of a converted warrior priest — 
Introduction of the gospel to Betsileo — Description of the 
idols — Satisfactory conversation with the Bishop of Mauritius 
respecting Church of England missionaries — Views of the 
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel respecting Mada- 
gascar — Principles on which Scriptures were distributed among 
the people. 

I had scarcely been a week at the capital when 
several young officers, who had been learning English 
under a native teacher, came to read with me in 
order to improve their pronunciation, and as some 
nobles of high rank, including the prime minister, 
applied to me to teach their sons English, I appro- 
priated two hours daily to this duty. The sister of 
the minister directed her messenger to ask what she 
was to pay for the instruction of her sons. I replied 
I was glad she wished to have them taught, that I 
did not go to Madagascar to obtain money, but to 



i 



THE KING LEARNING ENGLISH. 257 

help them to become intelligent and earnest in seek- 
ing the blessings of this life, as well as of that which 
is to come. I soon had a class of twelve sons of the 
highest chiefs, who by their earnestness and attention 
encouraged my efforts. 

The queen afterwards sent to me an interesting 
boy, the grandson of the first Kadama's sister, whom 
she had adopted, and two others of whom she was the 
guardian ; and in consequence of the more frequent in- 
tercourse with the English, for which the new regula- 
tions had opened the way, many were now anxious to 
secure the advantages which a knowledge of our 
language would afford. The king also, having heard 
that I was teaching the sons of the nobles, sent his 
secretary to ask me to go and read English with him 
as often as I could conveniently. I therefore went to 
his residence, and finding that he had made some 
progress and seemed earnest in his desire both to 
read and to speak English, I agreed to go to him for 
one hour eyery afternoon, which I continued to do 
until within a short time of his death. 

At the time of my arrival Eadama was employed 
in erecting a stone house for a school, and as soon 
as the building was finished, he sent word by his 
secretary that he wished me to hold religious wor- 
ship in the large room every Sunday afternoon for 
himself and the officers, or any others who might 
choose to attend. 

I knew that the services which the king had 
rendered to the Christians, as well as the help he 
had afforded them when all other influence was 
s 



258 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

against them, had been of unspeakable value ; and I 
did not wonder that the believers themselves should 
regard him and speak of him as a Christian. 

Nor did I much wonder, considering their circum- 
stances and his conduct towards them, that they 
should have written of Eadama to their friends in Eng- 
land as being a Christian ; but I had too much reason 
to believe that, whatever he might become, he was 
not a Christian at the time ; and notwithstanding all 
my efforts to serve him, I did not leave him in doubt 
about my own opinion on that subject. On one 
occasion, when the members of the British embassy, 
including the Bishop of Mauritius, referred, in the 
presence of the king and queen, to his abolishing so 
many evil usages, of his having saved so many lives, 
and having proved such a friend to the Chris- 
tians, the king looked at me as if he wished me to 
speak. I said, before the queen and all his own 
officers as well as the foreign visitors, that he had 
undoubtedly done much to promote the welfare of 
his people, for which they were grateful, but, I 
added, " there is one great thing wanting — the one 
thing needful. He has not yet become a Christian 
himself." The king looked gravely towards me, and 
said with some emphasis, " He [Mr. Ellis] knows 
what is in my heart. He knows that I desire to 
understand and serve God ; I desire — I pray to God 
to enlighten my mind — to teach me what I ought 
to know." 

For the first few Sundays that I went to the king's 
house his secretary interpreted my address, sentence 



SERVICES AT THE KING'S HOUSE. 259 

by sentence, as I proceeded ; afterwards I undertook 
the whole in the native language. Sometimes many 
officers were present, and the numbers amounted to 
fifty or sixty persons during great part of the time 
that the services were continued ; and only on one 
occasion, when some foreigners had fixed that time 
for the transaction of business connected with the 
coronation, was the king absent. No one behaved 
with greater propriety, or paid more attention to the 
service, than the king did on every occasion. Some 
of the officers who attended, I had reasons to believe, 
were Christians ; others, I was told afterwards, became 
such. 

Until the influx of foreigners which the coronation 
brought to the capital, the attendance of the king 
and his companions at my readings and Sunday 
services was marked by strict propriety; but after 
that period I was often depressed by evidences of the 
evil influences to which he appeared to be sur- 
rendering himself. A large French piano was placed 
in the schoolroom, and music, singing and dancing 
were substituted for the lessons. I had selected the 
Bible as the book which the king and I should read 
together, and he always came to the room in which 
we met as soon as I arrived. I could not, however, 
conceal from myself that his habits were changing, 
and I learned that music and dancing were often fol- 
lowed by feasting and drinking, and that the host, in 
these revels, was always the first to lose self-com- 
mand under the influence of the latter. 

I spoke very plainly, but earnestly and kindly, to 



260 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

the king of this degrading vice, and of the conse : 
quences, both to soul and body, of his becoming the 
slave of those habits which I feared were gaining 
mastery over him. He acknowledged the truth of 
my remarks, and promised to exercise watchfulness 
for the future ; but only to be overcome again. I 
sincerely pitied him, and so long as he was willing 
to attend to what I said, I did not think it right to 
leave him. Considering how he had been brought 
up, the lightness and pliancy of his natural character, 
his passion for music, and his love of gaiety and 
pleasure of every kind — considering also how much 
good he had been the instrument of securing for 
others, I not only felt deep compassion for the king 
on account of the many influences operating against 
him, but hoped to the last that the Holy Spirit 
might change his heart, and that he might become a 
partaker of those spiritual blessings which he had 
been the means of preserving so many to enjoy in 
this world, and to hope for in the next. 

My instructions to the young nobles were con- 
tinued daily until the time of the coronation, when 
Mr. Toy, one of the recently arrived missionaries, 
kindly relieved me. My daily reading and conversa- 
tion with the king, and my service at the school- 
room, were also continued until near the time of 
Eadama's death. Much of my time was spent in con- 
versation with intelligent men in the capital or from 
the country, whether Christians or not. It was so long 
since an Englishman had resided amongst them, that 
most of those who came to the city favoured me with 



EARLY HOURS OF WORSHIP. 261 

a visit. These interviews were sources of much 
information to me, and afforded opportunities for 
bringing subjects under the notice of my visitors 
which were sometimes profitably remembered long 
afterwards. 

But my chief attention was given to the Chris- 
tians. Besides the congregation at Analakely, with 
whom I had spent my first Sabbath, there were two 
other important places of worship, Ambatonakanga 
and Amparibe, and I attended the chief forenoon 
service every Sunday in rotation at each of these 
three places. 

Like the inhabitants of all warm climates, the 
Malagasy are early risers, and I was surprised, on 
the morning of the first Sabbath which I spent at 
the capital, to hear that the members of the Christian 
families in the immediate neighbourhood of my own 
residence — men, women, and children, all dressed in 
their clean Sunday attire — had left their homes in the 
early morning before it was light and proceeded to 
their Sabbath worship, which at that time com- 
menced at daybreak, if not before. 

Prince Eamonja's son, who had undertaken to 
guide me to the place of worship on the first Sunday 
which I spent amongst them, reached my house 
before eight o'clock, and said that by the time we 
should arrive at the place of meeting, three quarters 
of a mile distant, the first congregation would have 
left, and the second would be gathered. I afterwards 
inquired of several their reasons for meeting so early 
then, when there was no danger in their being seen, 



262 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

and when the whole day was appropriated to social 
and public worship. They said it was not from any 
fear of discovery that they now assembled so early ; 
but they had been so long — twenty-five years — ac- 
customed only to feel at ease and safe in their Sab- 
bath worship under the shelter of darkness, that it 
still seemed most natural to them ; and also that they 
liked the cool, calm, early dawn better than the later 
portions of the day for their Sabbath services. 

At first I generally reached the places at which 
their worship was held about eight o'clock; they 
had themselves held an earlier service, with perhaps 
an address, before my arrival. After singing, reading 
the Scriptures and praying, I delivered a discourse 
or address on some passage of Scripture, followed by 
singing and prayer. One or more addresses or dis- 
courses were afterwards delivered by accredited 
preachers, with the same accompaniments; after 
which the benediction closed the service, usually be- 
tween ten and eleven o'clock, when the congregation 
dispersed and I returned home to breakfast and to 
rest awhile, preparatory to the engagements of the 
afternoon. 

So far as regards a clear and distinct presentation 
of what the preacher intended to say, the native ad- 
dresses were vastly superior to anything which I 
could give them ; but as both preachers and people 
expressed their desire that I should not only be pre- 
sent, but should preside at the services in which I took 
a part, since it made their meetings more like what 
they used to be when the earlier missionaries were 



MY OWN SOUL REFRESHED. 263 

with them, and as they had the courtesy to say they 
understood what I said, and wished me to take part 
with them, I could not refuse to do so. They also 
remarked that I sometimes presented the same truth 
in a different form, and accompanied by other 
illustrations, than they were accustomed to. Thus 
encouraged, I gave as much attention as possible to 
this part of my work, and secured the best available 
assistance in the acquisition of their language, in 
order that my services, so long as I remained 
amongst them, might become increasingly useful. 
These services were often a means of spiritual re- 
freshment to my own soul, as well as a cause of 
astonishment and gratitude such as I had never 
before felt. 

Besides my familiarity with their position and cir- 
cumstances ever since the preparation of the " History 
of Madagascar" in 1838, my correspondence with some 
of the Christians after the return of Mr. Freeman, 
who left the country in 1835, and my personal inter- 
course with a number who afterwards fell in the 
maintenance of their faith, had produced strong and 
lasting impressions on my own mind; and when I 
remembered the circumstances in which I had first 
known some who were now unfettered and faithful 
ministers, and my eye glanced from some of these 
men, perhaps seated beside me, to the congregation 
before us, where there were generally some of the 
earliest converts — some who on their own persons 
had worn the fetters, or who had drunk the poison, or 
borne the yoke of slavery for Christ, — and when, fur- 



264 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

ther, I saw also the widows and orphans of those who 
had died in the flames, or among the rugged granite 
rocks, or by the executioner's spear, I felt, indeed, my 
spirit stirred by the evidences of God's wondrous grace 
and power, in a manner never elsewhere experienced 
by me before or since. 

The habits of the Malagasy do not favour evening 
meetings. The family usually meet for their most 
important meal after dark, by the light of lamps or 
fires. The whole family is then gathered together, 
and, except on extraordinary occasions, it is not cus- 
tomary for the members of respectable families to 
leave home after dark. Nor is it either pleasant or 
safe to do so ; the rough, undressed stones which 
cover the roads or pathways which, after a fashion, 
may be said to be paved, are with difficulty traversed 
by shoeless feet, while total darkness on nights when 
there is no moon follows within half an hour after 
sunset, and continues to within half an hour of break 
of day. None either of the broad or narrow intricate 
and winding paths are lighted ; and, as a rule, the fami- 
lies remain at home after the evening meal. Where 
houses are within the same enclosure, or are near, 
their inhabitants meet in the evening. When Chris- 
tianity was proscribed, the darkness favoured the 
meetings of the Christians without detection; but 
since freedom of worship has been allowed, they 
have, as a general rule, ceased to meet for worship in 
the evening. 

From the time of my arrival, Christians inhabiting 
houses in the near neighbourhood were accustomed 



CHEISTIAN CONFEKENCES. 265 

to come to my residence for the purpose of evening 
worship. Frequently on Sabbath evenings more 
than one of the native ministers met with us, and 
such evenings were always welcome and encouraging. 
Occasionally I invited a number of the ministers 
and others to spend the evening of a week day with 
me, for the purpose of conference on matters affecting 
the progress of the gospel, or for general information. 
In our early meetings my inquiries chiefly related 
to the circumstances and proceedings of the Chris- 
tians during the mazina, or darkness, as they fre- 
quently designated the supremacy of heathenism; 
and as to what they thought must chiefly be ascribed 
the astonishing increase in their numbers which had 
taken place during that long and suffering period. 
In general they replied promptly that it could only 
be ascribed to the influence of the Holy Spirit on 
their hearts. But on being asked further they would 
add that other causes combined in producing the 
change, such as preaching, praying, reading the 
Scriptures, or the conversation of Christians ; or an 
indescribable feeling of interest in the Christians, 
or sympathy with them in the injustice and cruelty 
which they suffered, impressed some with a feeling 
that there must be something important connected 
with Christianity. The patient and most uncommon 
conduct of the Christians under such trials — not 
cursing their persecutors, but praying for them ; 
not seeking to be revenged, but to convert — affected 
the minds of many. 

They said that various were the thoughts and 



266 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

considerations which first suggested the idea of a 
personal adoption of Christianity, sometimes long 
nursed in secret, occasionally mentioned between 
intimate friends, and finally avowed by speaking to 
some Christian or uniting in prayer with some in con- 
cealment, or praying themselves to God to teach 
them and bring them to acquaintance with those 
who could explain more fully to them the way of 
salvation. 

After persecution ceased and the Christians were 
more generally inmates of the families to which 
they belonged, the preachers were of opinion that 
the spirit, conduct, and character of those in the 
family who were sincere believers, most frequently 
brought other members of the same family to Christ ; 
and this was one reason why the gospel seemed to 
be received and avowed more generally by families 
than by individuals. There were some families in 
which there might for a long time be only one 
Christian, but very few in which there remained 
very long only one heathen or unconverted member. 

Parental discipline, or training of children, appeared 
to be a thing unknown among the heathen, and 
simply as discipline it was but little practised among 
the Christians. But a habit of taking them to the 
house of God from their earliest years, training them to 
the most respectful attention during seasons of family 
prayer, urging a reverential regard for the Bible, as 
well as an affectionate and kind inculcation of its 
great truths, were, I believe, universally practised 
among the Christians. 



INCREASE OF CONVERTS. 267 

Few more affecting spectacles have ever come 
under my observation than a Malagasy family after 
the reading of the Scriptures ; the father and mother 
kneeling by the seats they had occupied, and the 
children, down to the youngest able to walk, bending 
their foreheads to the ground on the matted floor, 
while the father offered up their united thanksgivings 
and petitions to the great Parent of all. As a rule 
the mothers appear fond of their children, and much 
of the religious principle and feeling which exist 
among the younger members of Christian families 
is to be ascribed, under God, to the affectionate teach- 
ing and prayers of the Christian mothers. 

I early sought information from the preachers as 
to the actual amount of the increase which had been 
made to their numbers during the years of persecu- 
tion. They had generally stated, in most of their 
communications, that their numbers were augment- 
ing; and now, as persecution had ceased, I was 
anxious to learn what was the state of the church, 
in regard to numbers, as compared with its position 
at the time when Christianity was forbidden in the 
country. On one occasion, very soon after my arrival, 
they told me that they thought there were about five 
thousand Christians in the capital, and two thousand 
more in the suburbs, without reference to the believers 
scattered over the outlying parts of the country. Of 
these, about nine hundred had been admitted to the 
communion at the capital. I did not obtain any 
specific number of the communicants in the suburbs ; 
they probably amounted to two or three hundred. 



268' THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

In 1835-6, when the early missionaries were driven 
from the country, it is supposed, from the nature of 
the buildings in which their meetings were held, 
these being chiefly ordinary dwellings, that the two 
congregations reported up to that date could not 
have amounted to more than from one to two 
thousand. Two hundred had applied for admission 
to Christian communion. 

In 1856, twenty years after, when I visited them, 
while persecution remained in unbroken power upon 
them, although they could give no information as to 
the number of communicants, since they only met 
in small companies and in out-of-the-way places, 
and although they had not attempted to make any 
lists of the disciples, they supposed them to amount 
then to about three thousand. 

In 1861 persecution ceased, and liberty of worship 
and teaching was restored; and as soon as they 
became settled in their new position, the leading 
men amongst the Christians endeavoured to form 
an approximate estimate of their numbers. The 
stern, determined repression of Christianity had 
continued throughout twenty-six years. Persecution 
in a chronic form marked all these years, and seldom, 
if ever, did one year pass without some of the Chris- 
tians suffering. Besides the persecution of 1845, in 
which the influence of the prince with his mother 
saved more than twenty of the Christians from the 
consequences of the accusations brought against 
them, the Christians had endured four general and 
severe persecutions. 



RETROSPECT OF THE PERSECUTIONS. 269 

In February, 1835, when the missionaries were 
forbidden to teach or preach Christianity at any 
time or in any form, and death was threatened to 
any native who should read the Bible, pray to 
God, receive baptism or join the communion of the 
Christians, — in this persecution, although no life was 
taken, two thousand five hundred suffered different 
punishments. In July, 1845, the capture of Eain- 
tisheva and other fugitives attempting to escape from 
the country brought severe persecution, when large 
numbers suffered. In February, 1849, four nobles 
were burned alive, thirteen were hurled down the 
precipice, and two or three thousand punished ; and 
in July, 1857, when the names of seventy Christians 
were carried to the government by Eatsimandisa, who 
had been a pupil of the missionaries and associated 
with the Christians, thirteen were stoned to death, 
and more than fifty fastened together in heavy fet- 
ters, under which half the number died. These were 
the several persecutions which had fallen on the 
church in Madagascar during Queen Eanavalona's 
reign. 

In these four great persecutions, besides those who 
suffered at other times, more than 10,000 persons 
were sentenced to different kinds of penalties ; and 
what had been the result ? After death had been 
threatened, in the name of all that was powerful and 
dreaded in heaven and on earth, to every one who 
should avow the hated faith — after encouraging in- 
formers, after scouring the country with troops, and 
recommending vigilance in Christian hunting as a 



270 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

test of loyalty and a means of promotion ; after em- 
ploying divination, and invoking the gods of the 
country against the defenceless Christians, what had 
been the result ? The Christians had increased in the 
land from one thousand, when the persecution com- 
menced, to seven thousand when it ended ; the com- 
municants, from about two hundred, had increased 
to a thousand. Such, by God's divine grace and 
power, was the blessed fruit of six-and-twenty years 
of persecution ! 

During these years the Christians had been desti- 
tute of all human guidance and all human aid. No 
European teacher or preacher had gone in and out 
amongst them. God had been their helper, and the 
Holy Spirit, who, as the Christians said, was the best 
teacher, had been with them; and these were the 
marvellous results. 

Equally valid and extensive were the collateral 
evidences of this divine work as seen in the altered 
lives and elevated characters of many among the 
Christians. This was known and recognised by all ; 
while not a few were selected by their heathen rulers 
to fill positions of responsibility or trust, in conse- 
quence of their integrity of character. The character 
of the Christians had also its effect in disposing 
others to regard their creed with less aversion, and 
so preparing the way for its wider extension. Thus 
notwithstanding some causes of regret amongst the 
Christians, there was far more to enkindle gratitude 
and to inspire hope. 

Invitations to the king's coronation, which was to 



THE FRENCH MISSION OF PEACE. 271 

take place in the month of August, had been sent to 
the Governors of Mauritius and Keunion, as well as 
directions to the governors or representatives of 
several provinces of Madagascar to proceed to the 
capital ; but, as it was found that the native chiefs 
and their retainers could not come from the remote 
provinces in time, the ceremony was delayed until 
September. The change, however, was not made until 
it was too late to inform the foreign visitors who had 
been invited. 

The French embassy, under Captain Dupre, ar- 
rived at the end of July, and the English embassy, 
with General Johnstone, accompanied by the Bishop 
of Mauritius, reached the capital about a week after- 
wards. An account of the valuable presents sent by 
the sovereigns represented by these embassies to the 
King and Queen of Madagascar, and of the cere- 
monies connected with the coronation, having been 
already published,* it is not necessary to refer to 
the embassies here, except so far as their presence 
and influence might be supposed to affect the interests 
of Christianity among the people. 

The arrival of Commodore Dupre brought the first 
mission of peace from France to Madagascar, and, as 
an earnest of the future, it was peculiarly welcome. 
M. Lambert was also in the capital, and it was only 
in reference to his proceedings with the king that 
any apprehensions were felt. With the several 
members of the English embassy I had been pre- 
viously acquainted, and was happy to share their 
* " Madagascar Revisited." 



272 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

society during their stay. The Bishop of Mauritius, 
as well as General Johnstone and Colonel Anson, 
accompanied me to the school and to the public 
assemblies of the Christians on the Lord's day, 
and manifested an interest in the welfare of the 
Christians and the progress of the gospel, which 
was most welcome and encouraging to the people. 
They also visited the places where the martyrs 
had suffered; and as we met at these spots a number 
of Christians who had been spectators of their last 
moments on earth, or were in some cases closely 
related to the departed, their information and remarks 
rendered these visits instructive and deeply impres- 
sive. It appeared to these friends that the several 
places would be admirable sites for the churches 
which it was proposed to build. 

The people were prepared to meet with friends in 
the English, and anxious to show, according to the 
usage of the country, their sense of the kindness of 
the distinguished visitors, the Christians, with the 
assistance of their wealthier neighbours, prepared a 
present for these friends, and towards evening on the 
15th of August they came to ask me to go with 
them to the general's quarters. On reaching the 
court in front of the house I found a number of 
them assembled, and a fine fat ox standing near the 
door, which they intended as a present. I explained 
their object to the general, and when, accompanied 
by the Bishop and Colonel Anson, he reached the 
verandah, Eainimarosandy, a portly Christian officer, 
advanced a little in front of his companions, and in 



A PLEASAOT MEETING. 273 

a brief and sensible speech expressed, on bebalf of 
the Christians of the capital, the great satisfaction 
which the visit of the general and his companions 
from England, the country of their earliest friends, 
had afforded them. He said they felt, after the 
kindness shown them, that they were regarded as 
friends, and were bound by new ties to their Chris- 
tian friends in England; and that, following the 
custom of their own country, they had brought a 
present of an ox, of which they begged his acceptance, 
as an expression of their gladness on seeing amongst 
them the friends of the Christians and the friends of 
Eadama. 

The general, with much kindly feeling, returned 
an appropriate acknowledgment, to which the bishop 
added the expression of his satisfaction at meeting 
with them as Christian friends. I interpreted their 
addresses, and the parties separated with much ap- 
parent pleasure. 

As the time for the coronation drew near, the 
influx of strangers in various and, in some respects, 
antiquated costumes greatly increased. I gazed on 
many of these strangers with peculiar interest, be- 
lieving that the time would soon come when the 
glad tidings of salvation would be conveyed to their 
distant abodes. I was visited by some of them who 
had friends amongst the Christians. One of these 
was from the remote south, the neighbourhood of 
Fort Dauphin, a most energetic man, formerly a dis- 
tinguished priest, who had been wounded in battle 
while carrying on his shoulder the idol of which he 
T 



274 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

was the keeper, and which was regarded as the 
palladium of safety to his party. This event had 
given a shock to his faith in the idol, from which it 
never recovered ; having also met with some of the 
Christians, on a former occasion when he visited 
the capital, and having heard the gospel preached, all 
his lingering doubts were removed, and he destroyed 
the idol, which he had brought with him, consigning it 
to a place of concealment from which he felt sure it 
would never emerge to be again an object of religious 
veneration or trust. He was a strongly built, vigor- 
ous man, scarcely past middle age and, though a 
priest, had been reputed one of the best spearmen 
in the country ; and in times of disturbance or appre- 
hension was considered by friends and enemies alike 
as a host in himself — an ally to be trusted, a foe 
to be feared. He was highly esteemed by the 
Christians, and respected by the authorities at the 
capital. I saw him frequently, both during his present 
visit and when he afterwards came to the capital. 

I was also much gratified with the energy, intel- 
ligence, and apparent interest in the claims of 
Christianity manifested by a chief from the neigh- 
bourhood of Itasy, the large lake by the foot of the 
lofty Ankaratra, one of the highest mountains of 
Madagascar, forty or fifty miles from the capital. 
But my greatest interest was excited by the visitors 
from the Betsileo country, a large province joining 
Ankova to the south, where, at Fianarantsoa, the 
chief military post of the Hovas, Christian officers 
and men connected with the garrison there, had not 



THE CORONATION. 275 

only maintained their faith in Christ, but had been 
the means of converting some of their comrades ; and 
had besides been honoured as the instruments, in 
the hand of God, of bringing some of the people of 
the country to a knowledge of Jesus Christ, and to 
believe and trust in Him for salvation. These con- 
verts were welcomed by the Christians as brethren, 
and were to me cheering as the appearance of the 
early stars of morning, ushering in the dawn of a 
brighter day over the regions of superstition, ignor- 
ance and vice from whence they came. 

In the pageants and ceremonies of the coronation, 
which took place on the 23rd of September, there 
was no official recognition of the idols; no priest 
walked in the royal procession, no idols were borne 
near the sovereign's person, as had been the case 
before, and was afterwards. But in the apportioning 
of the ground to the different parties who were ex- 
pected to be present, spaces were marked off, near 
the gallery occupied by the court and the embassies, 
for the missionaries and the Protestants, for the 
priests and the Catholics, for the idols and their 
keepers, or their priests ; and in passing along a 
narrow part of the road, I unexpectedly found 
myself in the very midst of the idols and their 
bearers. 

These idols or objects of worship had very little 
to recommend them in their form or appearance. 
They were about thirteen in number, carried on tall 
slender rods or poles. They were chiefly composed 
of dirty pieces of silver chain, small silver balls, 



276 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

pieces of coral, silver ornaments representing croco- 
diles* teeth, with strips of scarlet cloth, and in one 
instance something which looked like a red woollen 
cap resembling a cap of liberty. Others were tied up 
in small baskets or bags, and were probably only charms 
or emblems of the idols. This I had no means of know- 
ing. Yet such were the objects of worship, or their re- 
presentatives, on which the safety and welfare of the 
nation were supposed to depend, and for refusing to 
worship which many of the most intelligent and 
worthy among the people had been subjected to 
banishment, slavery, torture, and death. 

The postponement of the coronation requiring the 
visitors to remain a longer time in the capital than 
had been expected, and finding that no arrangement 
could be made for its taking place earlier, the Bishop 
of Mauritius and one or two of the English embassy 
returned to Mauritius. The bishop had taken an 
early opportunity after his arrival of explaining to 
me the object of his visit, expressing his gratifica- 
tion with what he had seen of Christianity amongst 
the people at Tamatave and along the route from 
thence, and inquiring very particularly into the state 
of the Christians and the progress of the gospel in 
the capital. We conferred together on the best 
manner of extending Christianity in Madagascar. 
The governor, he said, had appointed him to come, 
and he had done so very cheerfully, that he might see 
for himself the state of the people, the various open- 
ings for usefulness, and in what part of the country 
he could co-operate with us in forwarding the evan- 



CONFERENCE WITH THE BISHOP. 277 

gelization of the island. His lordship added that he 
did not wish to interfere with our line of operations ; 
but, supposing we considered ourselves equal to the 
Christian culture of the capital and central provinces, 
asked whether there was not some part of the coast 
which they could occupy. 

I answered that it had been suggested to me at 
Mauritius that missionaries of the Church Mission- 
ary Society should occupy Madagascar, and I had 
always replied that the understanding between the 
London and the Church Missionary Societies, viz., not 
to interfere with each other's spheres of labour, had 
hitherto proved so advantageous, that I did not think 
it likely it would be disregarded in relation to Mada- 
gascar, and that I had written to England suggesting 
that missionaries of the Church Missionary Society 
should occupy some parts of the field. 

His lordship then asked if we considered ourselves 
able to occupy the capital and central parts of the 
island. I answered that we certainly did ; and when 
I pointed out the positions we proposed to occupy with 
the missionaries then on their way and the native 
assistants available, and when the bishop had observed 
that he should prefer occupying stations on the north 
and east coast, I answered that I should rejoice in his 
doing so, adding, " Had you proposed to come here 
I should have felt differently." I then adverted to 
the regret I should feel at seeing the missionaries 
diverted from their great work of recommending 
Christ to the heathen, and the inquiring people per- 
plexed by the presentation of the religious differences 



278 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

existing in our own country. The bishop observed, 
" It must come some time." I said, " Most likely it 
will be so, but I hope not now. I can conceive of 
nothing more likely to unsettle the minds of the 
people about Christianity itself than the introduction 
of another form of Protestantism, for which there is 
no need ; there is room enough for us both to labour 
without disturbing the minds of the people, or inter- 
fering with each other's work. In the north you 
will find the best climate, in the south the most 
people." 

His lordship replied, " I should deem another 
missionary establishment here undesirable, and in- 
jurious rather than otherwise ;" he then said, " My 
mind is greatly relieved by this communication. I 
see my way clearly. I shall most likely go to 
England to propose to the Church Missionary Society, 
and other friends, to send out a good mission to the 
north and the east coast, and we shall thus take part 
in the great work opened before the Church in the 
providence of God." He said they might work from 
the coast until they should meet us working from the 
centre, or we might extend our labours to the south. 

This arrangement has ever since been honourably 
adhered to. The Society for the Propagation of the 
Gospel have a mission on the eastern coast, the 
Church Missionary Society one on the same coast, 
further to the south, and their missionaries are 
encouraged by the success of their labours. Although 
the former society does not feel itself bound by the 
arrangement of the Bishop of Mauritius with regard 



SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL. 279 

to not sending missionaries to the capital, the fact 
that the inhabitants of the capital and central pro- 
vinces are well provided with Christian teachers, by 
the increased number of the agents of the London 
Missionary Society now occupying different posts of 
duty in and around the capital, may induce a change 
of opinion. 

So large a proportion of the people in this part of 
the country having now entirely renounced idolatry, 
and become brethren and sisters in Christ, — having 
also endured for five-and-twenty years the most 
fierce and sanguinary persecution which the Church 
in modern times has witnessed, and having mani- 
fested, throughout that long and fearful ordeal, a 
degree of stedfastness and constancy of love to 
Christ their divine Lord which has called forth the 
admiration of their brethren in every part of the 
Christian world, and demonstrated to believers and 
unbelievers alike throughout Christendom that what 
the gospel was in the first ages of the Church, that 
it is still — " the power of God unto salvation unto 
every one that believeth," — it is most earnestly to be 
hoped that the missionaries of the London Society 
and their numerous faithful fellow-labourers should 
be left to pursue, without interruption, those labours 
which the great Head of the Church has been pleased 
to crown with such remarkable success, and in which 
they have now been engaged for fifty years. 

At the same time other races, inhabiting distant 
parts of this large island, are awakening to a per- 
ception, faint though it may be, of the importance 



280 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

of Christianity, but remain altogether unprovided 
for; isolated portions of the country alone having 
been reached by native evangelists. And although 
the work will be more difficult in many respects than 
that part in which the labour was commenced fifty 
years ago, the very success which has attended the 
missions existing in the island will be useful to 
other missionaries, as all pioneering work is, and 
may be expected to accelerate the growth and ripen- 
ing of the harvest unto Christ, the great Lord of 
missions, which other parts of this important country 
may be expected to yield. 

I have already adverted to my early visits to the 
places in which the martyrs suffered. Being con- 
firmed in my opinion of their eligibility for the pur- 
poses contemplated, and having been assured by the 
king that they should be appropriated to that sacred 
use, I wrote to the directors of the London Missionary 
Society, stating that one great want at that moment 
was places of public worship. 

I said the proposal for building memorial churches 
in the situations specified had pleased the king, and 
had greatly encouraged the Christians, adding that 
three at least of these buildings should be of stone ; 
and that, so far as I could judge, the cost of them 
would not be less than £10,000. "The Christians 
here," I stated in my letter, " will do all they can, 
although twenty-six years of spoliation and suffering 
have greatly reduced their means. Labour for build- 
ing the churches can be obtained here or at Mauritius, 
but help will be required from England. The present 



FUNDS FOR MEMORIAL CHURCHES. 281 

state of feeling in relation to Madagascar favours the 
attempt to achieve this important work now, rather 
than at any future time. May the Lord put it into 
the hearts of His people to enable us to effect it. 

"Will England give to Madagascar these memo- 
rial churches, and thus associate the conflicts and 
triumphs of the infant church with the remembrance 
of the source from which, through divine mercy, 
Madagascar received the blessings of salvation, and 
thus perpetuate the feelings of sympathy and love 
which bind the Christians of Madagascar to their 
brethren in England ? " 

The directors of the Society stated that they felt 
the appeal to be irresistible, and that they had no 
choice but to submit this important case to the kind 
and generous consideration of their constituents, and 
to the Christian public in general ; which they did 
with their own earnest recommendation. The result 
was most encouraging. Before the next annual meet- 
ing of the Society the fund for the erection of memorial 
churches in Madagascar exceeded £6,500, and ulti- 
mately reached the truly munificent sum of £13,000. 

I had taken with me to Madagascar a few copies 
of the Scriptures, but the knowledge that I had some 
in my possession brought upon me such an extra- 
ordinary number of applicants, from remote as well 
as adjacent places, that I was exceedingly distressed 
on account of the many to whom I could not give a 
copy of the smallest portion of the inspired volume. 
Very few of the early Christians or their descendants 
possessed a Bible ; a large number of Christian fami- 



282 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

lies were without even a Testament ; a greater por- 
tion had a copy of the Psalms or of the Gospels 
bound separately ; some few had both these ; others 
had copies of even smaller portions of the word of 
God. Many Christian families, several preachers of 
the gospel, and sometimes the inhabitants of a whole 
village in which there was a Christian congregation, 
or in which Christian worship was regularly held, 
were all without a single copy of the New Testa- 
ment. The visit of an itinerant teacher or preacher, 
with a copy of the New Testament, caused unusual 
joy in such villages. A number of Christians, during 
the time of persecution, had committed portions of 
the Scriptures to memory, which they recited at 
their meetings, and taught to others. 

It appeared equally marvellous to me that, during 
the years in which no public religious teaching and 
no reading of the Scriptures had been allowed, the 
Christians should have maintained their own spiri- 
tual life in the strength and energy in which it had 
existed, and that, under circumstances so unfavour- 
able, their faith should have spread so extensively in 
the country. 

As soon as I had received intelligence of the 
arrival of the expected missionaries in the country, 
I informed the leaders of the Christians ; and when, 
in reply to their inquiries, I told them that I expected 
a supply of the Scriptures, they rejoiced greatly. 
A number of them requested me to write down their 
names and the names of their friends, together with 
the number of books which they wished to obtain. 



PAYMENT FOR BOOKS. 283 

I said that, excepting copies of parts of the Old 
Testament, there would be a sufficiency for the 
supply of the wants of all, as there were 10,000 
copies of the New Testament, besides other books. 

Firmly believing that on every ground it was 
better that those who were able should pay a reason- 
able sum towards defraying the cost of the books, 
than that all should receive them gratuitously, and 
knowing the extreme difficulty and dissatisfaction 
that would be caused at any subsequent period by 
requiring ever so small a payment from those who 
had been accustomed to receive them as gifts, I 
told them that the books would be given to those 
who were able to read and too poor to pay for them, 
but that other persons would be required to pay a 
small sum towards the expense of production and 
transport of the books, — about fourpence or six- 
pence for a bound copy of the New Testament, and 
double that sum for parts of the Old Testament 
bound together; which money would be sent to 
England to those who had provided the paper, and 
paid for the printing of the books. 

Some of those present observed that in former 
times both the rich and the poor had received these 
books from the missionaries gratuitously. This led 
me to repeat what I had before stated, that the help of 
their friends in England was now given under some- 
what different circumstances from those under which 
it had been afforded when the missionaries first came 
to Madagascar. Then the missionaries found them 
heathen ; they were Christians now. They came then 



284 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

to persuade them to become Christians, but now to 
help them to act like Christians, by providing for 
the nurture of their own spiritual life, and for 
making the gospel known to their heathen country- 
men ; that their faith would only become living and 
strong as Christianity was prized and sustained 
amongst themselves, and not left to depend on 
foreign support. 

Two or three rich men recommended me to follow 
the conduct of the Catholic priests, who gave books 
to the people. I said it was generous of the priests to 
do so ; but as I did not think it was right, or that the 
books could in such case be so highly prized or so 
carefully preserved, as they would be if those who were 
able paid a small sum for them, I could not adopt 
their advice. The same parties urged that the people 
would deem it as sacrilege to sell the Bible for 
money, because they regarded it with reverence, as 
being something sacred. I replied that there was 
danger of our mixing superstitious feelings with our 
estimate of the Bible. That in regard to its origin and 
teaching it was the most sacred and precious treasure 
the Christian could possess. It was the means 
whereby God instructed us concerning Himself, His 
love, His power, and His willingness to save man- 
kind ; and that the knowledge of these things was a 
benefit and a privilege which no gold could purchase, 
and which was given freely. That the wisdom and 
love of God taught in the Bible were divine and 
sacred ; but the paper and other material parts of 
the Bible were the same as those used in making 



PURCHASE OF BOOKS. 285 

other books, and had all been purchased with money. 
Therefore, while it would be unkind and wrong to 
withhold the Scriptures from the poor because they 
were unable to pay for them, it was right that those 
who had money should return a small portion of the 
cost to those who had paid for making the books and 
sending them across the sea. 

Other of the Christians said they were thankful that 
their friends in England had bought the paper, and had 
the Bibles printed and sent out, and that they would 
very cheerfully repay what was required to help their 
friends to prepare more books for themselves and 
others, and even proposed themselves to pay a larger 
sum than I had mentioned.* 

* Our discussion about the books was reported to the prime 
minister the same evening, and such was the desire of his people 
for them, that early in the morning one of his aides-de-camp came 
to say the minister would send his own slaves to Tamatave for one 
box of books and another of school materials for the use of his own 
people, and would pay for them when they arrived, if I would 
write to the person in whose charge they were, to deliver them ; 
this I did while the messenger waited. 



286 



CHAPTER XI. 

"Welcome of the missionaries from England — United communion — 
Liberality of the English embassy — The sacred city of Ambo- 
himanga — Sabbath services in the city — Death of Malagasy 
chieftains — Organization of native churches — Titles given for 
sites of memorial churches — First church at Ankadibevava — 
Uneasiness in the capital — Pretended supernatural messages 
to the king— The dancing sickness— Warnings of danger — 
Remonstrance of the nobles — Revolution — Death of the king 
— Reflections on his character — Accession of Rasoherina — 
Germs of constitutional government — Religious liberty con- 
tinued — The first missionary prayer meeting — Visit of Chris- 
tians from the north — Extensive and beneficial influence of 
the medical department of the mission. 

On the 30th of August, 1862, 1 had the pleasure of 
welcoming to Antananarivo the missionaries sent out 
by the London Society — Mr. and Mrs. Toy, and 
Dr. and Mrs. Davidson, who were followed a few 
days afterwards by three other brethren. The mis- 
sionaries were welcomed by General Johnstone and 
the members of the English embassy as they entered 
the city, and the Christians were greatly rejoiced. 
When they waited on the king and queen at the 
palace, and presented the handsome copy of the 
English Bible sent by the British and Foreign Bible 
Society, they received a cordial welcome from their 
Majesties, who expressed themselves pleased with the 



UNITED COMMUNION AT AMPARIBE. 287 

arrival of the wives of the missionaries, as indicating 
intended residence amongst them, and not a visit. 

I had secured the dwelling-houses on the premises 
formerly occupied by Mr. Griffiths for the temporary 
accommodation of the newly arrived missionaries, 
hoping they would be more suitably accommodated 
before the ground was needed for the training school. 
The greatest difficulty arose from there being only one 
kitchen, and that, as usual, separate from the dwelling- 
house. It was larger, however, than my own kitchen, 
which, though not very promising in appearance, 
seldom gave me canse to complain of the cooking. 
It was, however, much crowded by its inmates, 
among whom was generally a little boy brightening up 
the charcoal fire with a piston in a wooden cylinder, 
the usual Malagasy bellows. 

The next Sunday, being the first Sunday in the 
month, I went, accompanied by the missionaries, to 
Amparibe. The house was filled with people, and 
the native minister was concluding the usual morn- 
ing service when we entered. The members of the 
three churches in the capital had arranged that their 
first public association with the newly arrived mis- 
sionaries should be a united communion. They 
desired thus to express their sense of the divine 
mercy, by partaking together of the symbols of the 
one great manifestation of the dying love of Christ 
in the sacrifice offered on the cross, and, in the cele- 
bration of this ordinance, to unite with them in 
renewing their solemn consecration of themselves to 
God. 



288 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

"When the non-communicating members of the 
ordinary congregation had retired, the members of 
the other two churches entered, and the communi- 
cants, amounting to between seven and eight hun- 
dred, sat down — the men on one side, and the women 
on the other. After singing and reading, the ele- 
ments were distributed by one of the native minis- 
ters of the church and myself, an address was given 
by a native pastor from one of the other churches, 
and the minister of the third church closed the 
services with prayer. 

The greater portion of the assembly were neatly 
attired, chiefly in native clothing ; and when I looked 
on the calm, cheerful countenances of many in that 
assembly, seated on the matting before me, and 
remembered the deeply interesting events in the 
history of not a few with whom I was acquainted, 
and reflected that forty years before there was not a 
single native believer in Christ in Madagascar, I 
could not but regard with renewed wonder and 
admiration the goodness of God and the power of 
the gospel. 

The missionaries appeared gratified with the service; 
and, after making every necessary abatement, it was 
indeed a soul-moving spectacle which thus greeted 
them on entering the field of their future labours. 
The communicants had all been admitted to Christian 
fellowship by native pastors. They knew of the 
love of God to sinful men, and of the great salvation 
completed on the cross ; and they followed, so far as 
they understood it, the teaching of God's holy word ; 



FRENCH PRIESTS AT THE CORONATION. 289 

and, notwithstanding all deficiencies among the con- 
verts, such evidence of the fidelity of these native 
ministers could not but encourage the abler and 
better trained servants of Christ, who now came to 
take part in the work, to believe that they would 
find efficient fellow- workers in conveying the bless- 
ings of the gospel to the surrounding regions of 
heathenism. 

The coronation of the king and queen, which was 
attended by many foreigners and vast multitudes of 
people, took place on the 23rd of September, and has 
been elsewhere described.* A somewhat strange ac- 
companiment had preceded the ceremony, — a kind of 
pseudo-coronation, enacted by some Catholic priests, 
who went to the palace to see the crown which had 
been presented by the Emperor, and which they then 
sprinkled with holy water. They afterwards pub- 
lished the following account of their proceedings : — 

"La messe terming, j'ai recite* sur la couronne 
royale les prieres indiquees par TEglise ; puis, apres 
l'avoir asperg^e de l'eau sainte, et invoque sur elle 
toutes les benedictions d'en haut, je l'ai prise entre 
mes mains, et, m'approachant de Radama, je la lui ai 
pos^e solennellement sur la tete, en prononqant ces 
paroles : ' Sire, c'est au nom de Dieu que je vous 
couronne. Regnez longtemps pour la gloire de votre 
nom et pour le bonheur de votre peuple.' 

" II ^tait pres de 8 heures quand cette ce^monie 
s'est terminee n'ayant en guere pour t^moin que Dieu 
et ses anges," &c, &c. — "Relation oVun Voyage d 

* "Madagascar Revisited." 
U 



290 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

Tanamario, d VEpoque du Couronnement de Radama 
II." par le T. R. P. Jouen, Preset Ajoostolique de 
Madagascar. 

The king, referring afterwards to the circumstance, 
said that the queen and himself were unprepared for 
any such proceeding, and were greatly surprised at 
the conduct of the priests. 

Many Christians from Yonizongo, the Betsileo, 
and other distant parts, came to me the day after the 
coronation to ask for books to take to their homes ; 
and on the following morning the members of the 
English embassy departed. The influence of the 
English chiefs had been most honourable and en- 
couraging to the Christians, as well as a source, of 
much gratification to myself. They had seen much 
of the effects of Christianity among the people, and 
expressed themselves gratified by the conduct of the 
native Christians. The General promised — and gave 
me — the first encouragement in connection with the 
memorial churches, by the generous donation of £100 
towards their erection, beside £5 to distribute amongst 
the Christian poor. Captain, afterwards Lieutenant 
Colonel Anson also collected £60 in furtherance of 
the same object. 

Next to Antananarivo, the most interesting place 
in the province is Ambohimanga, a romantic-looking 
village crowning the summit of a granite hill, five 
hundred feet above the undulating plain from which 
it rises, and which is green and fertile with planta- 
tions and cultivated fields of rice. The mountain is 
clothed to its summit with slender and graceful trees 



GROUND. FOR NEW CHAPEL GRANTED. 291 

of rich and varied foliage, often festooned with 
creepers, and altogether so attractive that the native: 
bards have sometimes described the queen as resem- 
bling — 

"The woods of Ambohimanga 
Bending down in their growth." 

It was the birthplace of the founder of the present 
dynasty, and contains, besides the tombs of the 
sovereign rulers, the house of Fantaka, one of the 
national idols. No foreigner was allowed to enter 
its gates, nor even a native, who was not a resident, 
without a pass from the authorities. Yet even here 
there were Christians. They worshipped in the 
house of a Christian family; and in the month of 
November, 1863, they sought my assistance to obtain 
for them a piece of ground on which to build a chapel 
and a school. This the king cheerfully gave them. 
They then asked me to go and preach to them, which, 
having obtained the king's approval, I consented 
to do. 

The king sent instructions to the prime minister 
to inform the authorities of the place that he had 
granted the ground specified to the Christians, and 
to request the authorities to deliver it to them ; also 
to state that in about ten days I should go there to 
preach to the Christians with his entire approbation. 
The day before I went, the king sent a judge, one of 
the high officers of the government, to tell the 
authorities that I should be there on the following 
day, and that, as I went with his full approbation. 



292 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

he had no doubt they would receive me courteously, 
as his friend. 

Early on Sunday morning, the 16 th of November, 
I set out, accompanied by a friend of the commander- 
in-chief, a native preacher and some Christians. 
On the outskirts of the city we overtook the chief 
officer of the palace, himself a Christian, and by 
eight o'clock halted at the gate of Ambohimanga. 
There we found the officer in command with a few 
soldiers, drawn up outside the gate, and the judge 
sent by the king waiting for us. The officer of 
the palace then stated that a friend of the king's, a 
foreigner, and some Christians had come to visit 
them and the Christians in the city, and that by his 
Majesty's wish he had accompanied me. To this 
the chief replied that what pleased the king was 
pleasing to them, and that they were glad to see any 
one who was his friend. 

After the usual salutations between my com- 
panions and the officers, the latter bade me welcome ; 
then, giving the order to march, the drum beat, 
the officers and soldiers advanced, and we passed 
through the gate, the guard of honour with their 
music leading the way, the messenger from the 
king and I following next, and the Christians bring- 
ing up the rear. 

As soon as we had all passed through the gate, 
the Christians began to sing, and thus we proceeded 
along the well-paved and gradually ascending road 
up the side of the hill, until we reached an open 
space, some considerable distance below the higher 



SERMON BY A NATIVE PREACHER. 293 

parts, where the buildings belonging to the sovereign 
are situated. Here we halted beneath the shade of 
a large spreading tree ; leaving our friends with the 
authorities, who held a kabary, a Christian officer 
led the native preacher and myself to the house 
in which the Christians of the place and the friends 
from adjacent villages, to the number of about two 
hundred, were assembled. They occupied a newly 
matted room, where a few chairs and a table stood 
near a window, outside of which a number of heathen 
were gathered. 

After praise and prayer to the true God, Andri- 
ambelo, the native preacher, delivered a short but 
exceedingly appropriate address to the Christians 
within and the heathen without, from 1 Pet. ii. 17 : 
"Honour all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, 
honour the king." From these words, in a few brief, 
clear, and pointed sentences, he exhibited the fear of 
God in the heart as the foundation of all that is true 
in religion, and their love towards each other as the 
tie that binds Christians together ; that respect was 
due to their fellow-men; and that loyalty to their sove- 
reign was inculcated by the Christian law, as well as 
the fear of God. 

On the conclusion of the first service we were con- 
ducted, through crowds of children and wondering 
heathen, to the house of a Christian officer, the son 
of the priest of the heathen temple, where those 
from the capital took breakfast with us. On return- 
ing again to the house of worship, we found it so 
crowded that some of the company had to come out 



294: THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

before we could enter. After singing and prayer 
a native minister, born in the place, gave a short 
address. I then read and briefly expounded the 
parable of the "Prodigal Son," as illustrating the 
loving character of God, the Father of all mankind, 
and the welcome of affection and joy which awaits 
every returning child. At the close of the service 
we sang the national anthem, which is a prayer for 
the king ; and I then told the company, that as we 
wished to visit another village on our return, we 
could not remain longer with them. 

On leaving the house we thanked the chief officers 
for the present of rice and poultry which they 
offered us in token of their hospitality, and asked 
them to give it to the Christians, as we could not 
remain. We then walked together under the grateful 
shade of umbrageous trees, down the side of the 
hill opposite to that by which we had entered the 
city, and on reaching the plain below the officers 
took friendly leave of us * 

* Such having been the actual course pursued on this occasion, 
I was somewhat surprised on receiving, nearly nine months after- 
wards, from home, a copy of an official report from Madagascar, 
which was sent to me for ' ' explanation. " In this accusation it was 
stated that, before making the above visit, I had obtained from 
the king "armed followers," and had gone to "preach there by 
force ;" and that I had afterwards induced the king to degrade 
"all the officers who, in the first instance, resisted," &c, &c. 
The facts above stated afforded ample explanation. There were 
two or three accounts of the same event. I heard it was 
stated that I had " preached at the point of the bayonet, on the 
tomb of the late queen." And I read in a newspaper that I had 
gone with Radama to Ambohimanga, to pray at the tomb of his 
mother for the repose of her soul. 



THE SACRED CITY OF AMBOHIMANGA. 295 

I .had subsequently an opportunity of making 
further observations on this ancient, sacred, and 
historically celebrated place. The great charm of 
Ambohimanga is its position, standing out like a 
bold promontory, overlooking a wide range of coun- 
try. On the eastern summit of the hill on which 
the city is built, tombs and other important struc- 
tures are seen, while houses of a respectable class 
stretch along the upper part to the west. Lower 
down and outside the city, in different directions, two 
or three houses grouped together here and there, 
with gardens and a few trees, forming rural home- 
steads with their orchards and other accompaniments ; 
or a cottage or two standing under a clump of trees of 
richest foliage, with deep perpendicular precipices 
on one side, and the level land of the cultivated 
plain stretching far away on the other, present alto- 
gether bits of landscape scenery that would make 
perfect gems of pictures. 

For two or three weeks after my first visit, a native 
preacher was sent to Ambohimanga from our con- 
gregation; then the authorities took possession of 
the house, threw out of the window the table, seats, 
matting, &c, placed a sentry at the door, and forbade 
the worship of the Christians there. The latter com- 
plained to the king, who removed the officers from 
their posts, and appointed others. One reason as- 
signed for the proceedings of the officers was that 
the usual amount of rain had not fallen, and that 
the failure of the rice crops and consequent starva- 
tion of the people were feared, on account of the 






296 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

offence given to the idols by the worship of the 
Christians in the sacred city. 

The death of more than one officer of high rank 
about this time made ns acquainted with the incon- 
solable grief occasioned by death among the heathen, 
and also presented some strange scenes in connection 
with the last hours of those whose relatives com- 
prehended both Christians and heathens. Among 
these was an officer of the government, whom I 
found dangerously ill on my return from Ambohi- 
manga. I visited him daily during the progress 
of his disease, and spoke to him and prayed with 
him when I had reason to suppose that he was 
conscious of what I said, which indeed was but 
seldom. The scene in his sick room was often 
deeply affecting. The members of his family were 
untiring in their kind attentions. In the room with 
him I often found one of the Catholic priests, while 
in the room adjoining, his sister, the wife of a judge, 
who was not a Christian, would be employing the 
sikidy or divination for his recovery. 

I spoke consolingly to the wife and family, some 
of whom were Christians. I had prayed with them 
the last time before I left, and in a few hours re- 
ceived a message to say that the spirit had departed. 
The king, with two of his ministers, was present 
when I went to the house later in the day, and I 
took occasion to speak of the danger of delaying 
preparation for the great change common to us all, 
as the deceased, who was not unacquainted with 
Christianity, had said, the last time I conversed with 



LETTER FROM DR. LIVINGSTONE. 297 

him while he was sensible, that he hoped to become 
a Christian. 

The next day, when I paid a visit of condolence 
to the family of Eahaniraka, I found them exhausted 
with fatigue. The king's band was playing in the 
yard to divert the minds of the survivors from the 
grief of their loss, and the house was crowded with 
mourners. The wife of the commander-in-chief, the 
sister of the prime minister, and other women of 
distinction were employed in decorating the bier and 
hearse, and numbers of cattle were being slaughtered. 
At seven o'clock next morning the funeral proces- 
sion passed my house on its way to the village of 
Inosy, in the north, where the interment took place. 

Before the close of the year I was much encou- 
raged by a welcome letter from my old and valued 
friend, Dr. Livingstone, who had passed along the 
west coast of Madagascar to Mohillo, one of the 
Comoro Islands. He had found that a cousin of the 
king of Madagascar was queen of the island, her 
father having escaped from the massacre of the chief 
part of his family, on the death of the first Radama. 
This letter, the last I received from Dr. Livingstone, 
is given at length in " Madagascar Revisited." I 
brought his statements about slavery before the 
king, who sent instructions to the western ports to 
prevent the importation of slaves into the country. 

I have already mentioned the religious organiza- 
tions which the leaders of the Christians had intro- 
duced among the believers during the time of per- 
secution. It was now unequal to their necessities 



298 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

in the altered state of the church, since perfect 
religious liberty had been established, and the avowal 
of Christianity was no longer an impediment to their 
temporal prosperity. The Christians sought advice 
from the missionaries, and we drew up a simple 
statement of the chief principles on which their 
churches should be organized ; mainly with a view 
to the maintenance of the law of Christ, as con- 
tained in the New Testament in relation to His 
church, the watchful care over the purity of that 
church, and its employment as the legitimate 
and appointed agency for the conversion of the 
heathen. 

The men who had acted as leaders of the small 
companies which were scattered over the face of the 
country during the persecution, were now joint pastors 
and teachers in the three large congregations in the 
capital. We recommended that the communicants 
in each church should select at least two of them to 
be their pastors ; to preside over their public religious 
proceedings, the appointment of deacons and the ad- 
mission of members. We informed them that we 
had not come to assume the government of the 
churches, but to give them the advantage of our 
knowledge and experience in promoting the wel- 
fare of the church in Madagascar. 

We further stated that if, when their churches 
were organized, they wished us to associate ourselves 
with the native pastors, we were willing to do so, 
but that the maintenance of the church in its order 
and purity, and its extension in the country, was the 



INCREASE IN THE CHURCHES. 299 

work which the Lord had devolved on them, and in 
which we would do our best to aid them. 

Upon this plan the churches in the capital were 
then organized, Mr. Cousins was solicited to take 
the oversight of the church at Amparibe, in associ- 
ation with Andriambelo and another native preacher. 
I was asked to help the church at Ambatonakanga. 
Mr. Toy became the pastor of the church which he 
himself had gathered in the northern part of the 
capital. He is still pastor of the same, which now 
worships in the beautiful memorial church erected 
at Ambohipotsy, where the congregation, then con- 
sisting of only thirteen persons, first met on the 
Sabbath afternoon in his own house. A temporary 
chapel, capable of holding six hundred persons, was 
built for their use at Ambohipotsy, and opened 
for public worship in the presence of the king, the 
widow of Eamboasalama, and other persons of dis- 
tinction, in February, 1863. This congregation now 
sometimes numbers more than fifteen hundred, with 
seven hundred communicants. Some slight changes 
or additions have since been made in the organiza- 
tion of the churches ; others will be indicated by 
growth and experience, which the elasticity of the 
system will enable them without difficulty to intro- 
duce. 

The commencement of the new year had been 
celebrated by the great national bathing festival of 
the people ; the Christians had been accustomed, 
even in the times of persecution, to celebrate Christ- 
mas day with extra service, and with such means 



300 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

of rejoicing as their circumstances admitted. On 
Christmas day, 1863, the king and queen, having on 
their way been to the Catholic chapel, came volun- 
tarily in state to the worship of the Christians at 
Ambatonakanga. This act prevented the heathen 
from continuing to report that, although the king 
favoured the Christians, the queen was averse to 
their creed and practice ; and showed that she was, 
in this respect, favourable to the Christians. 

A week or two afterwards the king invited about 
sixty of the chief ministers and leading Christians 
to a breakfast at his house, after which he expressed 
his pleasure at the success of their work, and his 
readiness to assist them. Statements were on this 
occasion made respecting the great need of public 
worship in the central and southern sections of the 
city, all the existing chapels being in the northern 
suburb ; and those present were recommended to 
obtain sites and erect places of worship in the popu- 
lous but neglected parts of the capital. The king 
encouraged the proposal, and several who were pre- 
sent promised to assist in the work. In less than 
six months two chapels, and subsequently a third, 
were opened, and congregations gathered in these 
important centres of influence. 

Having learned, in the month of March, that the 
directors of the Society approved of the proposal to 
build the memorial churches, and that the supporters 
of the Society were so favourable to the object that 
there was reason to believe the sum required would 
be furnished, I applied to the king for written titles 



BUILDING THE MEMOEIAL CHUEHCES. 301 

for the ground. Radama having, with the consent 
of his ministers, duly executed these deeds, I lost no 
time, in company with some of the missionaries, and 
with the government officers, in fixing the boundaries 
of the land, and arranging for the payment for any 
buildings or fences occupying the ground. I also 
engaged some of the most experienced quarrymen to 
provide stones for the foundation and commencement 
of the walls of at least one of the buildings. The 
Christians engaged to help, and undertook to level 
the ground, which was accomplished at Ambohipotsy 
by the end of March. 

Going down to Ambatonakanga early one morning 
in the beginning of April, I was delighted to find 
nearly the whole congregation at work, masters and 
slaves digging down the hillocks and levelling the 
ground which had then been obtained, women and 
children carrying the earth, stones and rubbish in 
baskets on their heads, while the preachers were 
superintending and encouraging them, and singing 
for joy. I gave them a piece of silver to send to the 
market to buy cooked manioc for the workmen, when 
they should rest in the middle of the day. I did not 
wonder at their joy. The spot had probably been to 
some of them a place of bondage, on account of their 
faith in that Saviour for whose worship it was now 
to be a sanctuary. 

In the mean time the church was extending its 
influence to new and important portions of the popu- 
lation. By the middle of April, the Christians on the 
eastern side of the city had finished their large chapel, 



302 .-' THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

just outside the ancient eastern stone gateway, called 
Ankadibevava. This building, though a hundred 
feet long and proportionally wide, was filled on the 
day of opening, when the king and a number of 
officers attended. The house, somewhat larger than 
at first required, was not substantially built ; but we 
rejoiced in the means of increased usefulness which 
it afforded. It was the only place of worship on the 
eastern side of the capital, which is two miles from 
north to south. The ground, which is most eligible 
as being near the chief eastern entrance to the city, 
was given by one of the people ; and, with a little 
assistance from the missionaries, a few of the nobles, 
and some of their fellow- Christians, the building was 
erected by the people themselves. A stronger church 
was subsequently built on the same spot, and a third, 
larger and more substantial, is now in course of 
erection. 

One of the ministers, one of the deacons, and 
about thirty of the communicants, removed from 
Ambatonakanga as soon as this building was com- 
pleted, for the purpose of forming the nucleus of a 
church and congregation connected with the place ; 
and on the first communion Sunday, fifty-eight per- 
sons commemorated the dying love of Christ in the 
newly erected church ; on which, occasion ten adults 
received the rite of baptism. In connection with 
few of the churches of the capital has the progress of 
the gospel been more encouraging than at Ankadi- 
bevava. Although the attendance on the means of 
religious instruction scarcely diminished in any of 



POLITICAL AGITATIONS. 303 

the former places of worship, or in the schools con- 
nected with them, the services associated with the 
newly erected buildings drew within their influence 
many of the residents of the localities which they 
occupied. 

There had been for some time considerable un- 
easiness among the different political parties in the 
capital, and greater activity among the agencies con- 
nected with the superstitions of the country. It 
first reached the capital in the form of rumours, from 
villages at a distance, of the prevalence of a sort of 
sickness, which rendered the subjects of it, at certain 
seasons, unconscious of what was passing around 
them, but accessible to communications from the 
spirit world. It was said that at times they saw 
visions, and heard voices from invisible beings de- 
livering messages from the ancestors of the present 
dynasty. These voices were said to deplore the 
apostasy of the king from the gods and the customs 
of his ancestors, and to forewarn of fearful calamities, 
unless the king should put a stop to the worship of 
the God of the foreigners. 

This was the general burden of all the communi- 
cations, whether it was reported that the ancestors of 
the king were coming to tell him what to do in order 
to preserve the kingdom, or whether it was to de- 
nounce some fearful supernatural visitation of aveng- 
ing calamity. This was followed by a number of 
persons, chiefly young women from the country, who, 
seized by some inexplicable disease, were said to 
be unable to remain in one position, or in the same 



304 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

place, and who, first singly, then in large numbers, 
and sometimes attended by their friends, came into 
the capital, running and dancing along the streets or 
the suburbs, and making their way notwithstanding 
the sentries who, with crossed bayonets, stood on 
each side of the gate, into the courtyard of the 
king's house. 

From the beginning the pretended messages from 
the ancestors of the reigning family had all been 
brought as if sent to the king. Eadama repeated to 
me the messages, and sometimes I was reading with 
him when the messengers came from the villages 
around. At first I treated the whole as a delusion 
on the part of these sight-seers and dancers, or as a 
symptom of disease ; but to my surprise, as well as 
grief, I found that the pretended revelations of the 
will of his ancestors was seriously affecting the mind 
of the king. He lost his natural cheerfulness, and 
became absent and silent. When he one day said to 
me that his ancestors were coming in great pomp, 
with cannon and all the outward insignia of power, 
I quietly asked, " Where do you think they obtained 
the cannon ? There are none in the spirit world, and 
your ancestors were all dead before any were brought 
to the country." But he only half smiled, and then, 
turning away, spoke on some other subject. 

At other times I spoke very earnestly to the king 
on this subject, which seemed to have taken posses- 
sion of his mind. My own life, I believe, was on one 
occasion in jeopardy, from a number of the priests 
with the dancers bursting open the door and rushing 



ATTACK BY THE HEATHEN PARTY. 305 

into the room where I was sitting with the king, the 
French consul, and some of Eadama's officers. The 
mad dancers wheeled round the room, while the 
priests or idol-keepers, with menacing looks and 
gestures, seemed bent on evil towards me. I stood 
up when they burst into the room. The king did 
the same, taking hold of my hand and leaning his 
shoulder against mine, while he ordered them out of 
the place. His attendants at length succeeded in 
clearing the room and fastening the doors and win- 
dows, with the exception of one small glass door, 
through which I saw the women dancing and the 
men, with large stones in their hands, gathered 
around it outside. Though it was three o'clock 
when I went to the palace, it was long after dark 
before I left to return home. 

I was afterwards informed that the heathen party 
had arranged to attack me on tha,t day, as they said 
that my presence with the king was the great hin- 
drance to their success with him. I was also warned 
that they intended to employ sorcery against me. and 
for nine successive nights small baskets containing 
what I was told were death warrants, or intimations 
of evil, were laid at my door. I did not fear their 
sorceries, but as incendiarism was sometimes em- 
ployed to favour the objects of the evil-disposed, I 
was glad when two soldiers were sent every night to 
keep guard over the premises which I occupied. 

From this time the king's mind became more dark 
and unsettled, and it was said that he had intimated 
his purpose to issue an edict authorizing those who 
x 



306 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

quarrelled to settle their dispute by force of arms. My 
own impression is that his mind had already given 
way. The prime minister and a large number of his 
adherents more than once besought the king to for- 
bear issuing such an order, but he refused to accede 
to their wishes ; on this they left him and proceeded 
to deliberate on the course they should pursue. 

There were other causes of dissatisfaction of older 
date and deeper root than this obnoxious edict, espe- 
cially regarding the conduct of the counsellors by 
whom the king had surrounded himself; and it was 
evident to most, except Eadama himself, that a 
change was impending, though few perhaps expected 
so tragical a one as that which followed. I never 
afterwards saw any dancers or sick persons running 
about the streets. 

When I returned from the palace on the after- 
noon of the day on which the nobles held their 
last conference with the king, I found two officers 
from the prime minister waiting with a message, to 
the effect that I was not to remain in my own house 
that night, but repair to a place mentioned, where 
farther directions, if necessary, would be sent to me. 
I passed that night at Dr. Davidson's, and, on looking 
out the next morning, saw the plain of Andohalo 
filled with troops under arms, and heard that thirteen 
of the king's ministers were prisoners. Some of them 
had already been put to death, and others were seized 
and killed during the day. A number of the king's 
advisers, who remained with him, were surrendered 
to the nobles, on condition that they should be ban- 






MURDER OF THE KING. 307 

ished in chains for life ; but they were all put to 
death on the day they were delivered up. Thirty- 
one had been sentenced to death, twenty-nine were 
actually slain. Some were irreproachable Christians, 
others unprincipled profligates, neither Christian nor 
heathen, but gross materialists. 

Whether the conspirators included the death of the 
king in their original plan, or feared a reaction 
against themselves if he survived, is not known; 
but shortly after cock-crow on the 12th of May two 
officers, with a number of men, forced an entrance 
into the room in which he had slept, and, disregard- 
ing alike the efforts and entreaties of the queen to 
save his life, removed her from the apartment ; they 
then seized the king, he exclaiming, " I have never 
shed blood ! " then, casting the mantle over his head, 
they tightened the sash round his throat until he 
sank a lifeless corpse on the floor, — murdered by the 
authority which had been chiefly instrumental in 
placing him on the throne, and which then held the 
power wrested from his hands. The body of Eadama 
was carried forth at night to the royal village of 
Hafy for interment. 

God had raised up this young prince at a most 
critical period of the early history of the Martyr 
Church of Madagascar. He gave him influence 
with his mother which no other human being ever 
exercised, filled his soul with a horror against 
the destruction of human life in any form, and 
warmed his heart with sincere and disinterested 
sympathy towards all suffering from injustice and 



308 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

cruelty. Eadama had been honoured by the Chris- 
tians' God, to lighten in their favour the heavy iron 
rule under which they had been so long bowed down, 
and to inspire hopes of a better future. He had 
saved many persons' lives, denounced persecution, 
established perfect religious liberty, and, while 
guaranteeing unfettered religious action, had afforded 
complete legal protection to Christians and heathens. 
His own imperfect acquaintance with the theory of 
Christianity, his destitution of the principles of re- 
ligious life in his own soul, the unrenewed state of 
his heart, and the course of his life, disordered and 
confused as it had latterly become, not only by bad 
influences, but by many conflicting forces, which he 
wanted thoughtfulness and stability of character to 
meet — all these had disqualified him for anything 
closer than a mere external association with the out- 
ward progress of Christianity in the country. But 
while the Christians deplored the disastrous effects 
of his own destitution of the power of religion, they 
justly felt grateful for the many benefits which, 
during the brief number of his days, he was instru- 
mental in bestowing upon his country. 

Within a few hours after forcibly separating 
queen Eabodo from her husband, the conspirators 
ottered her the then vacant throne, which she ac- 
cepted ; and her reign, while continuing to the 
Christians the liberty and the privileges which 
Eadama had bestowed, inaugurated the first germs 
of approximation to constitutional government ever 
known in Madagascar. 



ACCESSION OF THE NEW QUEEN. 309 

The conditions on which the new queen received 
the crown were, that the power over life and death 
should not be vested in the sovereign alone, and that 
the word of the sovereign alone should not be bind- 
ing on the people ; but that the agreement of certain 
representatives of the nobles and the people should 
be necessary to the putting any one to death, and 
the enacting ot any law which the people should be 
obliged to obey. It was also stipulated that perfect 
religious liberty should be guaranteed to all classes 
and creeds. 

About noon on the day of the king's death, the 
firing of cannon called the people to Andohalo, 
where a number of officers soon afterwards arrived. 
The chief officer announced to the eager multitude 
that during the night Eadama had put an end to 
his own existence, and that his widow, under the 
title of Rasoherina, was now queen ; he further 
announced the conditions on which the crown had 
been received. 

At the first audience she gave to the missionaries, 
the queen stated that the liberties and privileges of the 
Christians would be preserved in their full extent, 
and they were at the same time assured that the 
objects of the mission were approved. The queen 
herself was not a Christian, but was publicly re- 
garded as the head of the heathen and the patron 
of the idols ; yet she faithfully preserved inviolate 
the liberty of worship and teaching to the mission- 
aries and their converts. 

Though many of the Christians were almost 



310 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

stunned and bewildered by the shock of this sudden 
change, it operated favourably on them as a whole, 
by causing many to feel the insecurity of earthly 
things ; and it thus induced greater spirituality of 
mind, and increased earnestness and attention to the 
requirements of the gospel. The churches were well 
attended, and considerable numbers were added to 
their fellowship, frequently as many as twenty at 
one time. 

The missionaries justly considered that the capital 
had the first claim on their attention and efforts, but 
they did not confine themselves to this important po- 
sition. Congregations were reviving in the villages 
around, many of which had contained one or more of 
the schools established by the first missionaries. Some 
of these had been visited by the native teachers, 
and by the missionaries recently arrived. Mr. Toy 
had extended his care to the villages in the south. 
Mr. W. Cousins had gone to the north. Mr. Toy 
soon afterwards formed a small class of young 
men in his church, to whom he gave special in- 
struction with a view to their becoming preachers 
among the surrounding villages. Messrs. William 
and George Cousins, and Mr. Hartley, also trained 
classes of young men for the same important work. 
In order to excite deeper Christian sympathy in 
our congregations on behalf of their countrymen, 
we arranged with the ministers and churches of the 
capital to commence a monthly missionary prayer 
meeting. 

This meeting we proposed should be held in 



FIRST MISSIONARY PRAYER MEETING. 311 

rotation at the largest places of worship in the 
capital, the services at each place to be arranged by 
the ministers of the congregation. Some of our 
people suggested that such a public gathering of 
Christians would be premature, and might alarm the 
government. The heathen had always pretended to 
be scandalized, as well as offended, by large meetings 
of Christians, which they called kabaries in favour of 
the foreigners. 

Perfect liberty for prayer and teaching had been 
publicly guaranteed by the queen and the government, 
but so deeply had the long-continued and abject 
submission to authority become ingrained in the very 
nature of many of the people, that amongst the teachers 
even some did not venture to attend the prayer 
meeting, without first inquiring from the authorities 
whether or not it was approved. We had previously 
ascertained that some of the Christians connected 
with the government intended to be present. 

These monthly missionary prayer meetings com- 
menced at Analakely on the first Monday of August, 
1863, and long before the appointed time many more 
people had arrived than could gain admittance within 
the building, so that we removed the pulpit to a 
large doorway, in order that both those within and 
those without might unite in the service. There 
were at least three thousand persons present. All 
seemed gratified, and when they dispersed, as the 
sun was approaching the horizon, many expressed 
their regret that they had not met at an earlier hour. 

Nor was it at Antananarivo alone that these en- 



312 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

couraging tokens of the divine blessing were mani- 
fested. The change in the government brought 
many persons from distant parts of the country to 
the capital, and amongst those from the west, and 
from Fort Dauphin, the extreme south, came Chris- 
tian men, whose conversation, spirit, and conduct 
gave satisfactory evidence of their faith. They en- 
couraged us also by the accounts they brought of 
other Christians in these remote parts. One in- 
dividual received into communion with us had, as 
an officer, been most active in arresting some who 
had died for Christ. 

But more remarkable still was the case of the 
inhabitants of a village to the north, Amparafaravato, 
the whole population of which had been votaries of 
the idol or idols kept in the village. But the gospel 
had penetrated even here. A number of these 
villagers had become Christians, and appropriating 
one of their houses for Christian worship, had aban- 
doned the idols and met together in the house thus 
set apart for the worship of the true God. Some 
of these now came to Ambatonakanga, attended our 
worship, and applied for admission to fellowship with 
us. Those who knew them having testified to their 
Christian character, they were baptized and after- 
wards received to the church. 

Fears were entertained by some lest these pro- 
ceedings should displease the queen; but when her 
Majesty was informed of what had taken place, she 
said, " If any of the people of the villages are Chris- 
tians and wish to leave, they may do so. It is 



THE D1SPEXSAKY. 313 

nothing" (meaning there is no blame). " Let those 
who wish go, and those who wish stay ; for there 
is no impediment to the following of the idols, or 
to uniting with the Christians." On this word of 
the queen, some of these Christians had come and 
united themselves with our church and congregation. 
This speech of the queen had been delivered publicly ; 
it was now repeated before the officers of the govern- 
ment and others who were present, inspiring con- 
fidence while it gave encouragement. 

The dispensary which Dr. Davidson had opened as 
soon as practicable after his arrival, had been for 
some time in successful operation. The assistance ren- 
dered to the sick, and the skill with which the doctor 
had treated a large proportion of the multitudes who 
daily sought his help, had deeply impressed the 
inhabitants of the capital and the suburbs, not only 
with the benevolent aims of the mission; which, 
while seeking chiefly to lead the morally diseased to 
the great Physician of souls, did not leave, as beneath 
its notice, those afflicted with bodily infirmity and 
disease to suffer without help. The cure in some 
cases and relief in others from long and, in their 
circumstances, hopeless suffering, which so many 
had now experienced, was regarded with great satis- 
faction by all residing within reach of the dispensary. 
But the fame of the cures effected spread far beyond 
those who had experienced these benefits ; and of the 
vast number of strangers who thronged the capital at 
this period, few returned to their native homes 
without a visit to the dispensary, to witness the 



314 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

benefits bestowed upon others, or to seek relief for 
themselves. 

Writing about this time, Dr. Davidson observes : — 
* In addition to the usefulness of the dispensary in 
alleviating a certain amount of physical suffering, it 
undoubtedly exercises a powerful influence for good 
as an auxiliary to the Protestant mission. It is a 
standing testimony to the beneficence of our divine 
religion, and is calculated to impress upon the people 
a more just appreciation of the value of human life 
than has hitherto, unfortunately, prevailed. It has, 
to no inconsiderable extent, disarmed the prejudices 
and conciliated the affections of the people. Its 
influence in this respect has been felt among all 
classes, from the sovereign downwards. It has done 
more ; it has brought the gospel to a large class who 
could not possibly be reached by any other agency 
whatever. Many have listened to the gospel for the 
first time in the medical missionary dispensary, where 
they had resorted for the cure of their bodily ailments, 
whose enmity or indifference would have prevented 
them seeking or even submitting to counsel or in- 
struction from any other source. During the past 
year, a year of revolutions, above three thousand 
patients have been prescribed for, out of tens of 
thousands who have applied." , 



315 



CHAPTER XII. 

Coronation of Rasoherina — Rumours respecting Radama — First 
public recognition of the Christians — Religious services at 
Ambohimanga during the queen's visit— Christian procession 
to the palace on Christmas day — Review of the events of the 
year — Opening of the central school — Visit to Yonizongo — 
Employment of native preachers — The Christians in Betsileo — 
Instance of the power of the gospel — Chapel at Ambohitantely 
— Historical statistics of Ilafy — Visit to the Martyrs' Home — 
Chapels opened in the capital — Return of a captured slave to 
her home— Christians at Imerinamandrosa — Scene of the 
martyrs' suffering. 

Eabodo had been crowned by Eadama as queen 
consort ; but as she had now been proclaimed sove- 
reign, under the title of Rasoherina, and had received 
the homage and allegiance of the distant races who 
acknowledged the Hova rule, it was necessary 
that she should be publicly recognised as such by 
the representatives of the people gathered in the 
capital. 

The queen had restored the idols and the priests to 
the position which they occupied in the palace during 
the reign of Ranavalona, and the public official move- 
ments of the government were regulated by divination. 
The diviners had declared that Sunday was a day fa- 
vourable to the queen and her family, and the corona- 



316 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

tion — or official and public announcement of the sove- 
reignty of the queen — was, much to the regret of the 
Christians, fixed for the last Sunday in August. It 
took place, according to the direction of the diviners, 
at Andohalo, the place of public meeting within the 
city. The place was smaller and the numbers fewer 
than at the late coronation, though the native officers 
were as gorgeously attired as then. The chief differ- 
ence consisted in the -prominence of the priests and 
the idols. One of the national idols was placed in the 
palanquin with the queen, as she was borne through 
the city, while priests mingled with the officers in 
attendance ; and when her Majesty ascended the plat- 
form, a priest followed bearing the idol, which was 
fixed at the right hand, the priest standing on the 
platform immediately behind the sovereign. 

The queen, as already stated, was regarded as the 
head of the heathen party ; but when, in the course 
of a very judicious and conciliatory address, she 
declared that every one was at liberty to worship 
God in the way he thought best, and to teach his 
religion to others under equal protection and with 
equal security, so long as the laws of the kingdom 
were obeyed, it was felt by many that the presence 
and position of the idols, as well as the priests, was 
but the form without the power — the lifeless corpse, 
without the vital energy which had once made 
idolatry so fearful a scourge in Madagascar. 

It is only due to the memory of Easoherina to say 
that, by identifying herself with the adherents of the 
idols, she quieted the apprehensions and calmed the 



POLITICAL DISTURBANCES. 317 

spirits of those who were alarmed and impatient at 
the numbers and the power which Christianity was 
drawing to itself; and that, except in allowing the 
diviners to fix so many pageants and public amuse- 
ments as well as other proceedings for the Sunday, 
which greatly interfered with the due observance of 
that day by a large number of Christian officers and 
others, there was little cause for complaint. The 
queen faithfully and carefully guarded the liberties 
and privileges of the Christians, showing them at 
the same time much personal good- will ; and by the 
placing of her adopted children under their instruc- 
tion, she further manifested her confidence in their 
integrity and general character. 

At intervals after the revolution which placed the 
queen on the throne, the peace of the province and 
some of the neighbouring districts was greatly dis- 
turbed by rumours that Eadama, though reported to 
be dead, was still living, and waiting in concealment 
for his friends to replace him on the throne. Whether 
these rumours were, as some said, originated by 
parties seeking to discover any who might be hostile 
to the recent change, or by parties having political 
aims of their own to accomplish, or by others bent 
on plunder, did not very clearly appear ; but many 
lives were sacrificed among the tribes in the west, 
and sixteen were put to death at the capital. 

The queen's mother died in July, but for reasons 
of state it was deemed undesirable that the court 
mourning should delay the ceremony of coronation 
beyond the appointed time ; the decease was conse- 



SI 8 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

quently not announced until after the coronation 
had taken place. The remains were then conveyed 
to the ancestral grave, with the pomp and ceremony 
suited to an event in some respects national. Among 
the observances on this occasion, a large number of 
oxen were killed and given to the several classes of 
persons in the capital. The heads of the Christians 
were invited to attend, and, in the distribution of 
the animals by the queen's minister, seven oxen were 
apportioned to the leaders of the congregations, as the 
gift of her Majesty to the Christians. The Christian 
leaders acknowledged the queen's bounty, and, attended 
by their servants, removed the slaughtered animals. 

This gift was welcome to all as a token of recog- 
nition, but especially welcome to the poor Christian 
families. It was, however, chiefly prized by the 
more intelligent Christians, as indicating the altered 
light in which they were regarded by the govern- 
ment. Heretofore their existence among the queen's 
subjects had been ignored. It was now publicly 
recognised, for the first time, in the same manner as 
were other sections of the community, and tended to 
remove from the minds of the Christians the appre- 
hensions which the prominence of the idols and the 
priests at the coronation might have awakened. It 
was another step in advance towards the recognition 
of equal rights for all. 

Our second monthly prayer meeting, which cer- 
tainly in warmth of feeling showed no diminution 
of interest among the Christians, was held on 
the first Monday in September at Ambatonakanga, 



THE QUEEN AT AMBOHIMANGA. 319 

where Mr. Cameron had formerly resided while 
superintending the government works, and where 
the bell to call the workmen together still occupied 
the place where he had fixed it thirty years before. 
The service was about to commence, when Mr. 
Cameron, whom the directors had invited to superin- 
tend and assist in the building of the memorial 
churches, arrived at the gate on his way to his resi- 
dence at Analakely, having reached the capital that 
same afternoon. The spectacle presented at that 
spot, together with the object for which the multi- 
tude had come together, must have been as cheer- 
ing to him as it was unexpected. 

It had been first proposed to send out plans for 
the memorial churches from London, but the di- 
rectors afterwards appointed Mr. James Sibree as 
architect, to prepare the plans and superintend the 
building; and he reached Antananarivo about a 
month after the arrival of Mr. Cameron. 

Soon after the conclusion of the ceremonies con- 
nected with her mother's funeral, the queen and her 
court went for a season to Ambohimanga. A num- 
ber of priests, with one of the idols, went a day or 
two before the queen, whose journey in its minutest 
details was regulated by the diviners. Ambohi- 
manga had long been the stronghold of idolatry; 
and as at this time there would be a large number 
of priests and idol-worshippers there, we were appre- 
hensive that the Christians, who had necessarily 
accompanied the queen, might be obliged to abstain 
from their accustomed observance of the Lord's day. 



320 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

We were therefore thankful when we learned that the 
queen's personal officers, who were Christians, were 
told that they must arrange for part of their number 
to be in attendance, while others went to their 
worship, and that any Christians not on public duty 
were at liberty to attend Christian worship outside 
the gates of the city both morning and afternoon ; 
we also heard that some of the officers in personal 
attendance upon the queen had been among the 
preachers on these occasions. 

The holding of these services at the gates of this 
so-called " sacred city " was at the time most favour- 
able to the Christians. They found that their confi- 
dence in the queen's word was not misplaced ; and the 
idolaters saw that, however favourable the queen 
might be to them personally, she would not allow the 
Christians to be deprived of their privileges. It also 
stimulated the efforts of the believers, strengthened 
their hope, and confirmed their expectations of still 
greater triumphs of the cross in Madagascar. 

Even in the dark and depressing years of persecu- 
tion, the Christians had observed the return of the 
season when the birth of Christ is commemorated ; 
and having received the queen's approval of their 
proposal to pay their respects to the sovereign on 
this annual Christian festival, they met first in their 
several places of worship at daybreak on the morn- 
ing of Christmas day, concluding their morning 
service about eight o'clock; after which they re- 
paired to Andohalo, the place of public assembly 
within the city, where the number assembled 



PROCESSION TO THE PALACE. 321 

amounted to seven or eight thousand. Then, pre- 
ceded by the high officers of government who were 
Christians, and the ministers of the churches, they 
walked, four abreast, in one long joyous procession 
to the queen's palace, singing part of the way. 

When they reached the palace, the ministers and 
officers of the court, with the members of the 
royal family, were already assembled outside, and 
"when the queen came out of the palace she was 
welcomed with cordial greetings by the vast as- 
sembly. The singers sang the national prayer for 
the queen. The hasina was tendered, and two 
Christian officers addressed her Majesty, one of 
them with much feeling and propriety. The queen 
gave a brief but approving reply, and by words as 
well as gestures assured the assembly of the satis- 
faction which their declaration of attachment had 
afforded. All appeared pleased with the singing, 
and surprised at the number of the Christians. The 
national anthem was again sung, after which the 
queen rose and, amid renewed expression of cordial 
feeling on the part of the assembly, returned to 
the palace. 

The year thus closed, although it opened with 
bright prospects, had been one of great changes, of 
uneasiness, alarm and apparent danger to the mis- 
sion; but it had closed under circumstances which 
stimulated to greater effort and inspired stronger 
hope. There had been a continued increase among 
the believers, and this although the supreme objects 
of the nation's worship and dread — the spirits of the 

Y 



322 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

ancestors — had sent from the invisible world denunci- 
ations against the worshippers of the true God. 
Though the maddened priests had threatened personal 
violence, and death warnings against the servants 
of Christ had been repeatedly given, the confidence 
of the Christians had never failed. Through all 
these attempts to intimidate, and amid all the 
wild, erratic movements of the idolaters ; through 
conspiracy, revolution, and appalling shedding of- 
blood, the destruction of one sovereign and the 
exaltation of another, Christianity had not only 
held its own, but had increased in numbers and 
influence, until, at the close of this eventful year, it 
occupied a more advanced position in the estima- 
tion of the people, and exercised greater power for 
good than it had ever attained before. 

The mission had also been strengthened by the 
arrival of additional helpers in Mr. and Mrs. Pearse 
and Mr. Kessler. Two additional places of worship 
had been built, congregations gathered, and churches 
formed ; other buildings were also in progress. The 
large central school had been finished, and was in 
working operation, with a hundred and thirty child- 
ren daily attending and making satisfactory pro- 
gress. In reference to these children Mr. Stagg, the 
schoolmaster, expressed his opinion that the youth 
of Madagascar might be educated up to a point equal 
to that attained in schools of the same class at home. 
The mission had always been distinguished by the 
efficiency of its educational efforts, and much of the 
success attending the missionary work has been in- 



NEW CHAPEL AT AMPARIBE. 323 

strumentally attained by the ability and industry 
with which, in early years, this part of the work had 
been prosecuted. 

In connection with four of the chapels, schools for 
the children of the people attending were also in 
operation. Mr. Parrett had been able to print a 
supply of the most necessary books for teaching, and 
was training natives to aid in the work of the press. 
The missionaries in charge of the several city congre- 
gations had extended their personal labours to the 
adjacent villages. Mr. Toy had already under his 
care six villages in the south, to which he sent native 
preachers on the Sabbath day. Mr. Cousins had 
spent some time in Vonizongo, where he found three 
good congregations, with six hundred Christians and 
upwards of a hundred and twenty communicants. 
When it is stated that the people in this border dis- 
trict of Ankova had suffered severely during the 
long season of persecution, and had seen the face of 
no European teacher or preacher since the expulsion 
of the first missionaries, it need not be added that 
the visits of Mr. Cousins afforded unusual satisfac- 
tion. 

The chapel at Amparibe, one of the largest in the 
capital, of which Mr. Cousins is the English pastor, 
had been so often enlarged that it became necessary 
to build a new one. A building with clay walls was 
consequently commenced, which the people them- 
selves undertook and finished soon after his return 
from Vonizongo. At the opening service one thou- 
sand five hundred persons entered the building, while 



324 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

two or three hundred remained outside. The ordi- 
nary attendance was seldom less than fifteen hun- 
dred, and during the year then closed a hundred 
and eighty-two communicants were added to the 
church. 

The new year called to new efforts and probably 
new trials, but it was hoped that it would be attend- 
ed with continued progress. Mr. Pearse directed his 
attention to Analakely, where there was a congre- 
gation of a thousand persons and a hundred and eighty 
communicants without a European minister. 

On the 14th of January, 1864, the foundation- 
stone of a new hospital, to be built by Mr. Cameron, 
was laid by the prime minister ; and about a week 
afterwards the foundation-stone of the first memorial 
church, to be built from plans furnished by Mr. 
Sibree, was laid by the same officer at Ambatona- 
kanga. The commencement and prosecution of these 
great and important works were not the only encou- 
ragements with which the new year opened. Quietly 
and satisfactorily the gospel continued to spread 
among the people, and it was the continual pri- 
vilege of the missionaries to behold the evidences of 
the work of the Divine Spirit on the hearts of the 
people. No month passed for a long time in which 
additions were not made to the number of commu- 
nicants in the churches, and few weeks passed in 
which messengers did not arrive from distant places 
with letters of salutation and applications for books. 

In the month of February the Christians of Voni- 
zongo sent messengers with a letter of inquiry re- 



A MESSENGER FROM THE SOUTH-EAST. 325 

specting a course of Christian duty in special cir- 
cumstances, and also asking for Testaments and 
Psalms. They said they were indeed many, and 
their books exceedingly few. A reply was sent and 
their need of books supplied ; and though the mes- 
sengers had been two days on the journey, they only 
rested one night in the capital, and the next day set 
out for home with their treasures. 

A few days afterwards a Christian messenger, from 
a military post three hundred miles to the south-east, 
arrived with a letter from the Christian governor of 
the place, whom I had met during my former visits 
to Madagascar. His letter gave an encouraging ac- 
count of the increase of the Christians in that neigh- 
bourhood, and asked for books. The messenger had 
been thirteen days on the journey, and when he came 
to say that he was about to return, and I pointed out 
to him the large package of copies of the Scriptures 
and other books which I had prepared, observing 
that I feared he would find it somewhat heavy, it 
was quite refreshing to witness his eye sparkle with 
joy, as he surveyed the package and took it up. He 
set out the same day on his journey of three hundred 
miles to his home. 

Ever since the believers in Imerina had expe- 
rienced Christian liberty themselves, they had re- 
garded with deep interest the progress of Christianity 
in Betsileo, the inhabitants of which district are more 
closely allied with the Hovas than any other races in 
the country. The queen or chieftainess of that large 
province had charmed the court at Antananarivo by 



326 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

her noble bearing and glowing eloquence when she, 
with her brother and attendants, came as the repre- 
sentatives of the Betsileo to take the oath of allegi- 
ance to Easoherina. Her brother Kafmana, himself 
a Christian and the representative of a number of 
his Christian countrymen, was welcomed as a brother 
by the believers in the capital, between whom and 
the Betsileo, notwithstanding the distance, cheering 
and fraternal communication was not unfrequent. 
The following is one of the satisfactory evidences, not 
only of the extension of the gospel, but of its power 
over the hearts and consciences of those who received 
it in the distant provinces. 

An officer at Fianarantsoa lived, before his know- 
ledge of the gospel, as other heathens lived. A 
number of wives, or of those who scarcely stood in 
the rank of wives, was allowed by law; and the 
custom prevailed amongst all classes. This indivi- 
dual had several vady kely, or little wives, as such 
individuals are called. The relation had been entered 
into when all were heathen, and it was not esteemed 
in any way disreputable. Most of these persons, in- 
cluding the officer, became Christians ; and although 
no European had ever been there, and no correspond- 
ence had taken place between them and any of the 
missionaries on the subject, they became convinced 
that, for Christians, their manner of life was wrong. 
The chief, influenced, so far as we could ascertain, 
solely by the requirements of the gospel, stated that 
it was not right for them to live together as they had 
done; and it was arranged that one of the women 



POLYGAMY DISCONTINUED. 327 

should continue to live with him as his wife and the 
rest should return to their respective homes, with 
the suitable provision which he made for their 
maintenance. 

Such was the decision at which these Christians 
at Fianarantsoa arrived amongst themselves, simply 
from what they deemed to be the teaching of the 
"New Testament on this sometimes difficult question. 
Some of these women were connected with families 
at Antananarivo who had become Christians, and 
were members of the congregation with which I was 
connected. They were sent home honourably, under 
the care of a trustworthy Christian officer and his 
attendants. These men frequently visited me during 
their stay at the capital, and they also stated that 
the cause above mentioned was the only reason for 
the separation which had occurred. I do not recol- 
lect having met with any more striking instance of the 
power of the gospel on the consciences of those who 
had received it. 

While evidence so encouraging was received from 
distant parts of the country, we were cheered by the 
new centres of Christian influence continually arising 
amongst us. On the last Sunday of February, Mr. 
Toy and I had opened a newly-constructed place of 
worship at Ambohitantely. It was capable of accom- 
modating six hundred persons, and was filled on the 
day of opening, though I scarcely saw any present 
who were connected with the other congregations. 
This building is situated near the centre of the 
capital, only a few yards from the gate of the prime 



328 THE MART YE CHURCH. 

minister's dwelling, by whom the building has been 
aided, and where he himself and members of his 
family have at times attended. 

The progress of the gospel was to us all not only 
a cause of joy for the time, but every month it 
seemed to be casting forward a light upon the 
future, which rendered the return of persecution 
less probable. For although we might witness nothing 
extraordinary connected with our work, we had in- 
creasingly solid grounds for encouragement and hope. 
Never were labourers more needed ; never, perhaps, 
were claims more urgent than those which Mada- 
gascar presented at that time. The difficulties were 
great, and the influences in many respects unfriendly, 
but still the Christians held their ground, and con- 
tinued to increase. This steady advance made all 
the difficulties and trials appear comparatively 
slight; and it had also its effect in producing a 
difference in the outward conduct even of those who 
did not connect themselves with the Christians. 

Our united monthly prayer meetings still con- 
tinued to be well attended, and the people, now 
beginning to understand their duty in providing 
their own places of worship, were making com- 
mendable efforts for the furtherance of this important 
object. We frequently had brought to us lists of 
native contributions towards the erection of places 
of worship, and in these the members of the church 
and congregation tried first what they could raise 
amongst themselves, and then came to ask assistance 
of their friends in the capital. 



THE PERSECUTION AT ILAFY. 329 

From the villages in the north we had even 
greater encouragement than from those in the 
south. Some of the missionaries had visited Ilafy, 
a royal village "beautifully situated on the summit 
of a hill, sheltered by gigantic and umbrageous 
trees. These visits had cheered the people, and 
revived their Christian zeal. One of their early 
efforts was to provide for their own spiritual im- 
provement, by erecting a new and enlarged place of 
worship. They first drew up a statement of their 
numbers and means, and then sought assistance 
from the Christians connected with the several con- 
gregations in the capital and its neighbourhood. 

In the brief statement preceding the list of con- 
tributions was the following historical and statistical 
summary, which was sufficient to set forth the truth 
of their appeal. The translation is as follows : — 

" What the Christians of Ilafy suffered during the 
time of darkness (persecution). 

4 Christians were hunted, seized, and put to 
death. 

3 Christians died in fetters. 

2 Christians died from the tangena, or poison. 

4 Christians took the poison, but survived. 

25 Christians continued stedfast to the end of 
the persecution. 

28 Christians at Ilafy during that time. 

260 added to the Christians since the light, (liberty 
of teaching and worshipping) came to the land. 

298 — total number at the time this appeal is 
issued. Of these — 



330 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

87 are communicants. 

51 have been baptized, but are not yet communi- 
cants. 
160 have not yet been baptized. 

298 total." 

This appeal was successful. They completed one 
of the best furnished village chapels in the country, 
which, when I preached at the opening service, 
was well filled with the residents and their visitors. 
Mr. Pearse, the missionary at Analakely, now exer- 
cises a friendly oversight of their spiritual affairs, 
and visits them frequently. 

The above statement of this people is interesting 
and instructive, as showing probably the average 
number of Christians in the villages around the 
capital during the season of persecution, and the 
proportion of those who actually suffered during 
" the time of darkness," as they expressively call it. 
More than one-third of the whole were tried for 
their lives on account of their faith, and very nearly 
one-fourth were put to death because they were 
Christians. 

If the experience of the Christians of Ilafy be 
regarded as setting forth that of other villages, it will 
assist us in understanding the severe ordeal through 
which, in the very commencement of their religious 
life, the Christian villages of Ankova had to pass. 
The addition to their number after the proclamation 
of religious freedom, which they speak of as the 
" coming of the li&ht ," will also serve to show the 



ORDINATION OF PASTOES. 331 

blessed results of that change within three years 
after it had occurred. 

A notice of my visit to Arabohimanga, to assist 
in the recognition of the pastors and the ap- 
pointment of deacons, will show the kind of duties 
to which we were frequently invited among the 
village churches connected with those in the capital. 
The house of worship, outside the gate of this city 
or village, was not capable of containing many more 
than sixty persons, and, when we entered, it was 
crowded. After the reading of the Scriptures, singing 
and prayer, I told the people that I did not come 
with any authority to enjoin laws, but as a friend, 
and as the minister of the church with which some 
of them had been connected, from which church the 
gospel had been brought to them, and with which 
they desired to be associated. 

I found the communicants perfectly unanimous 
in their wish, viz., that two men of middle age 
belonging to the place and congregation should be 
recognised as their pastors or overseers, an office 
which they had filled from the time of the persecution. 
I then explained as simply as possible the nature 
and duties of the office, and asked the two individuals 
if they were willing, in dependence upon the Holy 
Spirit's assistance, to undertake the office and duties 
of Mpitandrina ; and each having answered separately 
that he was willing, I implored the divine sanc- 
tion and blessing upon the sacred engagement into 
which they had entered. 

In a similar manner I explained the teachings of 






332 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

the New Testament with regard to deacons, and 
asked how many persons they thought it desirable 
to appoint to assist the Mpitandrina in promoting 
their spiritual and temporal welfare. They said the 
people were thinly scattered over a wide extent of 
country, and that one of the preachers sometimes 
went a long way to preach. They therefore thought 
that there should be four assistants to the ministers. 
The individuals named having expressed their willing- 
ness to become assistants to the ministers, they were 
then appointed, and prayer was offered. After this 
I delivered a short address of instruction and en- 
couragement to the newly selected officers and the 
congregation, assuring them of the interest the 
churches in the capital felt in their welfare, and 
of their readiness to render help when needed, and 
of their constant prayer for God's blessing to rest 
upon them. 

The oldest pastor, though the youngest man amongst 
them, Eainikioto, is a very interesting Christian. 
He is a native of Ambohimanga, an amiable man 
and a good preacher, and at that time was scarcely 
thirty years of age. He had welcomed and enter- 
tained Andriambelo and myself on my first visit 
when we preached in the city. His mother was 
sister to one of the ministers of the late queen; 
his father, guardian or priest of Eafantaka, the 
tutelar idol of Ambohimanga, and one of the national 
idols of Madagascar. On his father's death the office 
descended to him, but being a Christian he could 
not hold it, and it was given to his sister 



ARRIVAL AT ISAROTRAFOHI. 333 

My kind friend the prime minister had, unknown 
to me, sent to the authorities of this city informing 
them that I was going with the entire approval of 
the government, and that they were not to allow any 
of my proceedings to be interrupted. 

After leaving Ambohimanga, and travelling about 
ten miles to the eastward, I reached Isarotrafohi, the 
dwelling-place of Andriamanantena, one of the distin- 
guished leaders of the Christians, who, after having 
survived several severe persecutions, fell during the 
last and most sanguinary one. I had received in 
England letters from him till within a short time of 
his arrest and execution, and had felt deep interest 
in the welfare of his family. On reaching the abode 
of his widow and daughter, by whom I was often 
visited in the capital, I was received with a truly 
Christian and hospitable welcome. By the energy 
and influence of this devoted man the gospel had 
been conveyed to a number of villages in the 
neighbourhood, among the inhabitants of which his 
name and character were held in high esteem. 

Andriamanantena was a civilian, a man of energy 
and of property, possessing more than one farm or 
small estate. The house at which I had arrived was 
the last which he built. It is pleasantly situated 
on a broad terrace, near the foot of a sloping granite 
mountain, crowned by the celebrated village of Am- 
bohitrabiby, and about thirty feet above the water of 
a winding stream. Between the high banks on which 
the house and out-buildings stood there was an 
orchard of densely foliaged orange, citron, loquat, 



334 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

peach, and other fruit-trees, all of which had been 
planted by their late master, and some of which were 
laden with fruit. He had also cultivated, on the 
terrace above, the vine, as well as other exotic trees * 

The house and its surroundings were evidences 
of the enterprise and industry of its master. His 
widow, a woman of energy and of kindness, as 
well as an active and devoted servant of Christ, 
seemed to live but to carry forward the great work 
for which her husband had died, and by the quiet 
influence of her unobtrusive kindness, had gained the 
affectionate esteem of all around. She had care- 
fully instructed her slaves, and in order to encourage 
them, when desirous to avow their belief in Christ 
as the only Saviour, she had more than once accom- 
panied a female slave, who was wishing for guidance 
and instruction in her religious life, to my house. 

I have said that I was hospitably welcomed after 
my labours and my long journey in the dust and 
burning sun ; but even more gratifying than the 
generous kindness of my hostess was the quiet, 
thoughtful, and assiduous attention of the slaves 
(for all servants in the country were slaves) to their 
mistress. Indeed, few things in my observance of 
the social life of the Malagasy Christian families, 
have struck me more forcibly than the marked dif- 
ference between the treatment of their slaves and 
those belonging to heathen. By the former the 
slaves are encouraged to attend religious meetings, 

* The view of the Martyr's Home, as well as the other illustra- 
tions, are chiefly from photographs taken on the spot. 




; ^iy^^x^mf^ 



From Photograph by Rev. W. Ellis. 

ISArtOTRAEOHY, THE MARTYRS' HOME. 



CHKISTIAN INFLUENCE UPON SLAVEEY. 335 

and seek the blessings of religion for themselves; 
and where there is reason to believe they have be- 
come sincere disciples of Christ, they are often 
treated with a measure of consideration and kind- 
ness, which makes their yoke very easy, and causes 
them to feel that all are one in Christ Jesus. 

Slavery may co-exist with heathenism, but is in- 
compatible with Christianity, which can only pro- 
duce its genuine fruits when men are free ; and 
should the Malagasy retain their country, the exist- 
ence of slavery will at no distant day be one of the 
chief sources of their anxiety. But nothing appears 
so favourable to a peaceful and satisfactory change 
in this respect, as the influence which Christianity is 
silently exercising over both master and slave. 

There were several congregations in the neigh- 
bourhood, the ministers of which, with the relatives 
of the family, were present on the occasion here 
described, and our conversation during the evening 
was deeply interesting and affecting. They narrated 
the perils of many of the Christians in that region 
who had been put to death ; they described the con- 
cealment of the master of the house and his com- 
panions in the neighbouring caverns, or amongst the 
tall reeds of the swamps, and of the canes near the 
river, as well as his marvellous escapes from those 
who were dogging his steps for weeks together 
during a long series of years, until the last severe 
persecution in which he died. 

I had always heard Andriamanantena spoken of as 
a superior man, and the general aspect of the place, 



336 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

as I looked around on the following morning, gave 
evidence of his judgment and taste, as well as of the 
industry and enterprise with which the affairs of his 
different estates were conducted. The circular enclo- 
sure at some distance beyond the house, with a couple 
of palm, trees, as represented in the plate, is a kind 
of homestead common in Madagascar, and was the 
residence of the owner before the house with the 
orchard was built. Here he was concealed at the 
time when the martyrs were thrown over the pre- 
cipice; and although diligent search was made for 
him by the emissaries of the queen, he eluded dis- 
covery, and finally escaped at that time. 

Accompanied by a number of the Christians, I 
walked towards a sugar plantation, where, in 1846, 
the owner of the place, with Andriamandry, and 
Eatsimavandy, another distinguished Christian who 
was stoned to death eleven years afterwards, were 
concealed for more than a week, while spies and 
persons sent to seize them were passing to and fro 
in eager search. Two of these Christians escaped at 
that time, but the second of the above-mentioned 
three was taken and died under the trial by poison. 

With the brother of Andriamanantena, and other 
Christians, I also walked for two miles up the rocky 
mountain to three other places, in which, during 
twenty years of the persecution, the husband of my 
hostess, and others, had at times found safety; we 
then descended to a village where I had arranged to 
meet the people, and found the place of worship 
nearly filled. Near one of the doors I observed a 



VISITATION OF THE CHUKCHES. 337 

place like a cupboard, and on asking what it was, 
they lifted the board and showed me a passage for 
escape, by which, in time of danger, a person could 
leave without being seen by those outside. I ad- 
dressed the people, for a short time, on the mercy 
and faithfulness of God, as their presence there under 
circumstances of peace and safety testified, and en- 
couraged them to endeavour to bring all around 
them under the influence of the faith and love of 
Christ. 

We had quite a large gathering at the house of my 
hostess in the evening. I found much to encourage me 
in the simple, earnest piety of many of the Christians, 
but heard of some things which required to be rectified. 
On leaving the next morning, I proceeded in a south- 
westerly direction across the country to a village 
about seven miles distant, where I had promised to 
meet the congregation at ten o'clock. We arrived a 
little before that time, and found the place of worship 
filled. Proceeding in a similar way to that adopted 
at Ambohimanga, I assisted them in appointing 
overseers and deacons; also in setting apart, in 
consequence of the number of villages connected 
with the place, three of their number to itinerate 
as evangelists in the surrounding neighbourhood. 

I had visited and assisted these Christian com- 
munities in compliance with their earnest request, 
but chiefly because some of the Christians in these 
infant communities had been associated — and nomi- 
nally were so still — with the church and congrega- 
tion of which I was one of the ministers ; and who 
z 



338 THE MART YE CHURCH. 

wished to regard Ambatonakanga as their parent 
church. The same considerations have influenced 
my brethren in their endeavours to cherish and as- 
sist the village churches under their care. 

The western side of the city was still without any 
public place of worship. The Christians in that 
quarter had, with commendable zeal, built a tem- 
porary place of worship, in the early part of the year, 
near the edge of the precipice from which the 
martyrs had been cast; but in a great fire which, 
in the month of May, had consumed a large number 
of houses in that part of the city, it had been burnt 
down. The people soon afterwards commenced, 
with renewed energy and a little assistance, the 
erection of another building, on the site which had 
been procured for the more substantial memorial 
church, to be erected in the centre of the western side 
of the capital. It was near my own residence, which 
stood on the opposite side of a broad hollow, or 
valley, opening to the west. 

By the fifteenth of August it was finished and 
opened for Christian worship. In and around the 
building, on that occasion, seven hundred persons 
were assembled, including some of the officers 
of the palace, and members of the families of 
others residing in the neighbourhood. On the follow- 
ing Sunday a number of persons, dwelling in the 
vicinity of the chapel, who had not previously 
associated with the Christians or attended any place 
of worship, were among the hearers, and their number 
continued to increase. Messrs. Hartley and Briggs 



NEW CHAPEL AT ANDOHALO. 339 

had recently arrived at the capital ; and Mr. Briggs, 
who, associated with native assistants, became min- 
ister of the chapel, opened a school for the boys of 
that part of the city, while Mrs. Briggs attended to 
the education of the girls, to the no small gratification 
of their parents. 

Other means of usefulness within the city were 
soon afterwards provided. A number of Christians 
residing in the city, but worshipping at Analakely, 
anxious to obtain ground in one of the best parts 
of the city, near the daily market and the place of 
public assemblies, adjacent also to one of the great 
roads leading to the north, applied for assistance; 
and I was so convinced of the importance of the 
position, that I gave them, from my own means, a 
hundred dollars with which to secure the site. They 
built a neat chapel on the spot, which was opened for 
public worship on the 22nd of October. Mr. Hartley 
became the minister, and the congregation soon be- 
came too large for the chapel, though no diminution 
was witnessed in the attendance at the previously 
existing places of worship. 

About this time, at the close of our weekly Bible 
class, Bazafy stated that she was about to visit 
her native place in the Sakalava country, a month's 
journey to the north- west from Antananarivo. Bazafy, 
with two brothers, when they were all quite young, 
had been seized and brought away as booty by the 
troops sent against that part of the country by the late 
queen, in 1849. On reaching the capital all had 
been sold as slaves, and had now become Christians. 



340 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

She had married a Christian man, and had two 
children — one an infant in arms. Her brothers had 
returned some months before to their native place, 
where they found their parents still living, and long- 
ing to see Bazafy and the children. Her brothers 
had also sent word that there were several persons 
in that part of the country learning to read, and also 
inquiring about the gospel ; and she wished therefore 
to take with her a few spelling-books and copies of 
the Scriptures. 

The master of Eazafy gave her an excellent 
character ; and when she called to take leave, I gave 
her some books, with a few words of encouragement. 
This incident will show the marvellous ways by which 
God was then spreading the knowledge of the gospel 
in Madagascar. 

I visited frequently the villages to the north, most 
closely connected with Ambatonakanga, and soon 
after the arrival of Mr. George Cousins I repeated 
my visit to the " sacred city ;" after preaching there 
to the people, I proceeded westward for about 
five miles to Imerinamandrosa, fifteen miles from 
the capital. My arrival was welcomed by the 
Christians, most of whom came to visit us during 
the evening. Some of them I had met at Tamatave 
in 1854 ; others had suffered much during the last 
persecution, and had lost beloved relatives. Two 
of those who spent the evening with us had worn 
the heavy fetters for four and a half years, and they 
now exercised great influence for good amongst the 
people of the place. I found there were a hundred 



VISIT TO IMERINAMANDROSA. 341 

and twenty-six Christians in this place, of whom 
twenty-six were communicants. 

A number of Christians sentenced to wear the 
fetters in the last persecution had been banished 
for a time to a small village about two miles distant. 
Accompanied, amongst others, by one who had been 
imprisoned in fetters there, I went the next day to 
visit the spot where the Christians had suffered. One 
of these led us to a small house having only a door- 
way, and one or two little windows. In this place nine 
Christians, chained together night and day, had been 
confined, and my guide showed me how the heavy 
bars of iron were either supported by cords from the 
roof, or propped up by stones against the wall, 
when they sat or lay down on the ground. It was 
a deeply affecting place. My friend pointed to a 
slave woman, with a child in her arms, belonging 
to the place, and, with grateful emotion, stated how 
kind that slave had contrived to be to them during 
their sufferings. I also saw the market-place of the 
adjacent village of Alatsinaina, round which the 
heavily manacled Christians were led every market 
day, in order to deter the spectators from following 
their example. 

The following day was the Sabbath. The native 
minister from Ambohimanga, and a number of people 
from a village five or six miles to the north-west, 
joined in the morning services, when the minister 
from the sacred city preached, with much affection 
and great earnestness, a truly instructive and im- 
pressive discourse to a large and attentive congrega- 



342 THE MAETYE CHUECH. 

tion. Our friends from a distance returned home 
for their evening services, and I preached to the 
people of the place in the afternoon. 

A large number of Christians assembled at the 
house I occupied, and joined our evening worship. 
The statements they gave afforded joyful evidence 
that not a few had believed to the saving of their 
souls. There was with them, as there is in many 
village Christians, such simplicity as well as evi- 
dent sincerity in their account of the progress of 
the gospel amongst them, and of their earnest en- 
deavours to bring the tidings of salvation to their 
heathen neighbours, that I could not resist the con- 
viction that their experimental sense of the validity 
and certainty of the things of which they spoke was 
due, in no small degree, to the patience, fortitude, 
and love to Christ of which the Christians, who had, 
suffered in their immediate neighbourhood, had pre- 
sented such noble examples. 



343 



CHAPTEE XIII. 

Bereavements of the mission — New churches and increased attend- 
ance — Introduction of public Christian marriage — Visit to 
Lazaina — Notice of Ranivo's family — Treaty with England — 
Queen Victoria's message, and Queen Rasoherina's reply — 
Journey to the west — Reinforcement of the mission — Departure 
of Mr. Ellis — Prosperous close of the year — Opening of the 
first memorial church — Its influence on the people — "Welcome 
arrival of missionaries from the Friends — The queen's visit to 
the coast — Zealous efforts of the Christians among the heathen 
— Return of the queen to the capital— Results of the preaching 
of the gospel — Remarkable increase of the Christians at the 
close of the year. 

The year 1864 had not been altogether one of peace. 
Eepeated rumours of Eadama being still alive un- 
settled the minds of some. The disgrace and banish- 
ment of the prime minister had unsettled the minds 
of others, though it removed a cause of uneasiness ; 
but the more liberal and consistent policy of his 
successor promised tranquillity for the present year, 
as well as for the future. 

Heathenism, although patronized publicly by the 
queen, and brought more prominently before the 
people by the exhibition of the idols in frequent 
heathen processions, intended to show their reviving 
influence and power, was in reality only exhibiting 
the last struggles of a system mortally wounded, 



344 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

and from which the life once possessed was rapidly- 
ebbing away. 

The year had been in some respects one of affliction 
to the mission. Mr. Stagg, the master of the central 
training school, had suffered under repeated attacks 
of fever shortly after commencing his important 
work, although his death did not take place before 
he had seen the normal school in promising opera- 
tion. His removal was justly regarded as a heavy 
calamity to the mission, which, for a length of time, 
found itself crippled in one of its most important 
departments of effort, for want of trained and quali- 
fied teachers. 

Mrs. Pearse, who, with a noble heroism, ac- 
companied her husband to his post of duty, and 
entered upon the acquisition of the language with 
great assiduity and success, while drawing to herself 
the hearts of many of her own sex, was arrested in 
her labours by alarming illness, resulting in death, 
scarcely more than seven months after her arrival 
in the country. 

Besides these bereavements, the Christians had 
been affected by the evident instability of the exist- 
ing government, and the danger of violent interrup- 
tion to the peace of the community. But, notwith- 
standing these and other disturbing elements, the 
confidence of the believers in the foundations of 
their faith, and the assurance of their hopes of salva- 
tion through Jesus Christ, were still strengthened. 

On the whole the year had been a great gain to 
the mission. Its numbers had been increased by 



SOLEMNIZATION OF CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE. 345 

the arrival of three additional missionaries, with 
their wives. The printing-press had been employed 
and the medical branch of the mission had been 
extended, adding to the benefits previously conferred 
on the people. Three new places of worship had 
been opened, chiefly by the efforts of the people 
themselves, and larger and better places had been 
built for two of the most important congregations 
in the city. !N"ew congregations had been gathered 
and churches formed in three of these buildings, 
and they had largely increased in the others. There 
was also reason to believe that the attention given 
to the Christian communities in the surrounding 
villages had been the means of increasing to an 
equal extent the Christians in those localities. 

The daily conduct and social life of the Christians 
had in no respect deteriorated, but in some instances 
had greatly improved. Marriage, according to the 
divine law and Christ's own teaching, had been 
more extensively recognised as the true foundation 
of domestic happiness and social progress, — a cove- 
nant entered into by the appointment of God, and 
in dependence on His blessing. And thus, without 
neglecting those observances which the laws of the 
country rendered necessary to secure its legal recog- 
nition, the marriage contract had been solemnly and 
publicly entered into in the house of God, with the 
assistance of the minister of the congregation ; in 
this way a registry of marriages had begun to be 
kept. Parties of different ranks of society, from 
those connected with the highest families down to 



346 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

the Christian slaves, had thus, before their respective 
friends and fellow- Christians, solemnly entered into 
this sacred engagement * 

The spiritual work of the mission had been truly 
cheering. There were now seven congregations in the 
capital itself, and about seven thousand Christians, 
of whom six thousand attended public worship 
every Lord's day. Connected with these avowed 
Christians there were, in the several churches in the 
city, one thousand four hundred communicants; in 
addition to which some of the churches received two 
hundred during the following year. The Christian 
churches in the villages around had also received, 
in equal measure, the Divine blessing. No aspect 
which the Martyr Church of Madagascar has pre- 
sented, augurs more hopefully for its stability and 
progress than this proof of the steady increase of 
its numbers, and of the consolidation of its insti- 
tutions. 

A number of the Christians worshipping at Amba- 

* Nothing has received more careful attention from the native 
churches than their regulations for preventing divorce from 
frivolous causes, and for guarding the security of the marriage 
covenant. At the half-yearly meeting of the Congregational 
Union of Imerina, the representatives from the seven city churches, 
and of the separate churches in the province, in June, 1869, a 
regulation on this subject, adopted at the previous meeting of the 
Union, was brought up for confirmation. An officer of the govern- 
ment, a member of one of the churches, who was present as a 
representative, stated "that the Prime Minister had authorized him 
to say that he entirely approved of their proceedings on this 
subject, for it was good, and interfered with no law of the land." — 
Teny Soa {Good Words), July, 1869. 



TEE CHEISTIAX CHURCH AT LAZAIXA. 347 

tonakanga belonged to the village of Lazaina, about 
nine miles to the north of the capital. This village 
was the birthplace and the residence of Eanivo, 
who occupied a noble and conspicuous position at 
the trial and execution of the martyrs cast over the 
precipice in 1849. I had twice travelled from the 
coast to the capital with the nearest relative of this 
distinguished woman, and had long desired to visit 
her family in their ancient home, as well as to be- 
come acquainted with the Christians of the place. 
At length I arranged to spend Sunday with them, 
and reached the village on the afternoon of Saturday. 

Some of the scenery near Lazaina is extremely 
rich, with a considerable extent of ground under 
cultivation. Outside the walls I found fewer ves- 
tiges of former greatness than at Imerinamandrosa, 
but better houses within, and apparently a more 
active and enterprising population. I was struck 
with the large number of children ; I counted a hun- 
dred and sixty from the window, before I had been 
an hour in the house, all of a suitable age for re- 
ceiving instruction. I found two hundred Christians 
belonging to the village, and a nice new chapel, in a 
central spot, in course of erection ; and although it 
was on public ground belonging to the village, the 
head men of the place had readily consented to this 
occupation of the spot for a building devoted to 
Christian worship. 

It was truly delightful to see the kind and neigh- 
bourly feeling with which the inhabitants, Christian 
and heathen, seemed to dwell in peace and good- will 



348 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

together. There was a small school, but the teacher 
was not efficient, and I deeply regretted that we had 
not one in the city to send them. Some of the in- 
habitants were traders, and had gone to Tamatave for 
merchandise ; but most of the Christians in the place 
paid me a visit, a number of them remaining until 
a late hour. 

I did not attend their early morning prayer meet- 
ing, but went between eight and nine o'clock to the 
forenoon service, which, until the new chapel should 
be finished, was held in a large, respectable, double- 
verandahed house in the centre of the village, be- 
longing to one of the Christians. About a hundred 
persons were present, and I was pleased with their 
seriousness and attention, as well as with their 
natural and simple manner of singing. Besides the 
usual singing and prayer, two short discourses were 
preached, by the village pastor and myself. It was 
to me very gratifying to see these rural Christians, 
as they left the door, exchange greetings with their 
friends, and then, with their children, walk cheer- 
fully away towards their respective homes. 

In the afternoon I went to preach to the people at 
Ambohimanga, four miles distant, and was gratified 
to find the number of Christians increased since my 
last visit. In the evening I had quite a congrega- 
tion in my lodgings at Lazaina. The Christians had 
many questions to ask, which I answered ; I then 
listened to their expressions of gladness at the pri- 
vileges which they now enjoyed, as well as to ac- 
counts of peril and suffering through which many 



TREATY WITH ENGLAND. 349 

had passed during the time of " darkness " or perse- 
cution. 

The house in which Eanivo was born was nearly- 
opposite my lodgings, and I was informed that in 
the one adjoining, several members of her family 
still resided. Some of these had been among my 
earliest visitors, and had formed part of the congre- 
gation to which I had preached in the early part of 
the day. I was pleased with this simple and affec- 
tionate party; indeed, the whole of my intercourse 
with them left an impression on my mind which 
is gratefully retained. 

On the following morning Mr. George Cousins 
came from the capital, and arrived at the centre of 
the village in his chair, or palanquin, just as I was 
taking a photograph of the house in which we had 
held our worship on the previous day, and not far 
from the new chapel in course of erection. I re- 
quested him, while I did so, to remain a moment in 
the middle of the road, and in front of the house 
on the pavement, in the verandah of which a large 
number of Christians were assembled. I left Lazaina 
soon after, but had the pleasure of visiting it again, 
and of assisting at the opening of the new chapel 
before my final departure from Madagascar. 

After the death of Eadama, the Malagasy govern- 
ment sent an embassy to England to propose a 
revision of the treaty concluded with the late king. 
In due time the ambassadors returned with the 
draft from Earl Eussell, and in the month of June 
the treaty was officially presented to the Malagasy 



350 THE MA.RTYK CHURCH. 

government. It was subsequently signed in presence 
of the queen by the principal officers of the govern- 
ment at the royal palace. This treaty secured to 
Englishmen liberty to travel and reside in all parts 
of Madagascar, excepting three cities, of which Am- 
bohimanga was one. By the third article, the treaty 
also secured to British subjects liberty to exercise 
and teach the Christian religion, and to erect suitable 
places of worship ; these to be recognised as belong- 
ing to the Queen of Madagascar, as is the case with 
all other property in the country. 

In reference to the agreement respecting the 
churches belonging to the queen as a trustee for 
their legitimate appropriation, the following docu- 
ment, executed immediately afterwards, signed by 
the officers who had attached their signatures to the 
treaty, and attested by the signature and seal of the 
British consul, was furnished by the government : — 

" In accordance with the meaning of Article III. 
of the English treaty (with the Malagasy), the 
churches to be built by the London Missionary 
Society at Earavohitra, Ambatonakanga, Ampamari- 
mana, Ambohipotsy, and Eiadana, shall be put aside 
by the sovereign of Madagascar for the teaching 
and worship of those missionaries, and for the Mala- 
gasy who unite in the same worship with them, and 
for their successors for ever. And the sovereign 
shall set apart and protect (those churches), and not 
permit them to be used for worship by persons who 
do not unite with them, and whose worship is not 
the same as the worship of those who built them." 



QUEEN VICTORIA'S PLEA FOR THE CHRISTIANS. 351 

No title in Madagascar is more valid than that 
by which the Memorial Churches are secured. 

The most welcome part of the communication, to 
the Christians, was the statement, in the letter which 
accompanied the treaty, that Queen Victoria re- 
quested, as an expression of friendship to herself (or 
words to that effect), that Queen Easoherina would 
not allow the Malagasy Christians to be persecuted 
on account of their religion. 

The following are the words by which, in the 
treaty, Queen Easoherina responded to the generous 
and humane solicitation of the Queen of England : — 

" Her Majesty the Queen of Madagascar, from her 
friendship for her Britannic Majesty, promises to 
grant full religious liberty to all her subjects, and 
not to persecute or molest any subject or native of 
Madagascar on account of their embracing or exer- 
cising the Christian religion." 

When I read these paragraphs I thanked God that 
He had disposed our gracious Queen to make this 
request, and had inclined the Queen of Madagascar 
to agree to it so promptly and fully. It is only just 
to say that this engagement was faithfully kept. 
Often in our places of worship on the Sunday, when 
I have heard the native ministers pray for their own 
sovereign, I have been gratified to hear them, at the 
same time, implore the divine blessing on Queen 
Victoria. 

The frequent rumours of anticipated change, to 
which allusion has been made, interfered with the 
progress of the first memorial church, which Mr. 



352 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

Sibree was erecting ; but the greatest hindrance had 
arisen from want of lime, which was not abundant, 
and was, besides, a government monopoly. It 
therefore became necessary to take further measures 
for securing an adequate supply; and Mr. Cameron 
having obtained the consent of the government, I 
accompanied him to Antsirabe and other places, 
thirty or forty miles west of the capital, in search 
of limestone for building the church. 

During the first ten miles of this journey we 
crossed a number of rivers descending from the lofty 
Ankaratra, and spanned by stone bridges erected by 
the late king, the last of which, over the river An- 
dromba, appeared the best constructed and least 
damaged of any we had seen. We then continued 
our route over a tract of country of richer soil, better 
watered, and more generally cultivated than that to 
the north ; the population was also less scattered and 
the villages larger. I was glad to find that Mr. Toy, 
with his accustomed energy and zeal, had visited 
several of the most important of these, and preached 
to the people, sending them also on Sundays native 
preachers from his own congregation at Ambo- 
hipotsy. 

The sun was setting when we entered the broad, ex- 
tensive, and park-like valley of "The Silkworm Trees," 
and we were glad to rest for the night. Failing in the 
morning to find a sufficient quantity of what we were 
in search of, we proceeded in a northerly direction 
to Madera, which we reached at noon; here we found 
limestone sufficient for our purpose. We agreed with 




u P',.t,»jruph bij Hev. TV. Ellis. 



BRIDGE OVER THE ANDROMBA, 
Built by Kadama II. 



LAST SABBATH AT AMBATONAKANGA. 353 

the people to prepare and convey it to the capital, 
and fixed a day on which they should come to have 
the contract confirmed by the government. Leaving 
early the next morning, we prevailed upon our 
bearers, by the promise of a little extra pay, to en- 
deavour to reach the capital that night, as the next 
day was Sunday. Stopping at Andromba for refresh- 
ment and a short rest, we arrived at home a little 
before midnight, relieved from all anxiety about the 
means of completing the memorial churches. 

On the first Sunday in July, I administered the 
ordinance of the Lord's Supper at Ambatonakanga 
for the last time ; and at a subsequent meeting took 
leave of the church and congregation, commending 
them to the care and the blessing of the Great Head 
of the Church. I was deeply affected by the evi- 
dences of their kindness and Christian feeling on 
that occasion. Mr. George Cousins, who had for 
nearly twelve months been associated with me in 
the pastoral duties there, and who had entered with 
ability and energy upon the great work before 
him, afforded me every encouragement in relation 
to the care of the flock over which he was now to 
become the English pastor. With him was to be 
associated Eatsiliangia and the young preachers whom 
Mr. Cousins was training for their work. 

The native pastor, who was one of the first con- 
verts baptized in the church in 1831, I found acting 
as minister of the people when 1 arrived. The 
church then consisted of seventy-six members. 
When I left, without reckoning fifty or more who had 
2 A 



354 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

been sent to help in the formation of other churches, 
they amounted to two hundred and seventy-nine. 

After receiving many farewell letters, and some 
welcome tokens of good-will, I went to take leave of 
the queen, who expressed her regret at my departure. 
The prime minister, of whom I had also taken leave, 
sent me a letter expressive of the queen's satisfaction 
with my proceedings. I received my passport on the 
following Monday, and on the same day met Mr. Pool, 
who had a very short time before reached the capital 
to assist in the building of the memorial churches. 

When I left the capital on the 18th of July, the 
Christians met me on the road at the foot of the hill 
on which the city stands. I addressed a few words 
of encouragement to them as they stood around me, 
and then my native co-pastor affectionately bade me 
farewell on behalf of the church and people. There 
were present a number of the widows and orphans of 
the martyrs ; and Eatsiliangia asked me to accept from 
the church a silk lamba for my wife. I gratefully 
received their present, and, taking leave of them and 
the missionary brethren, pursued my way. 

On reaching Tamatave on the tenth day after my 
departure from the capital, I preached to the Hova 
congregation on the Sunday, and was pleased with 
what I saw there of the progress of the Church of Eng- 
land missionaries. I sailed on the 3rd of August, and 
having received from friends in Mauritius their wonted 
hospitality, proceeded to England, where I arrived in 
safety on the 14th of October, 1865. 

The review of the mission at the close of the year 



RETURN OF MR. AND MRS. COUSINS. 6 00 

exhibited marked and cheering progress. The new 
hospital had been finished, and proved a source of 
more extended benefit to the people. A new sub- 
stantial chapel had been built at Analakely, where 
the labours of Mr. Pearse, as well as among the 
villages to the north, appeared to be followed by 
increasingly satisfactory results. A church had been 
organized among the people worshipping in the tem- 
porary building on the edge of the precipice, and the 
male and female scholars were being carefully taught 
by Mr. and Mrs. Briggs. 

Mr. William Cousins, returning from England with 
Mrs. Cousins, had not only received a joyous welcome, 
but had found, under the care of Andriambelo and his 
native assistants, an augmented church, comprising 
nearly six hundred members, and a prosperous con- 
gregation. The large supply of Malagasy Bibles, 
which had been received from the British and 
Foreign Bible Society, with smaller books, had sup- 
plied the long and deeply felt wants of a large portion 
of the Christian community ; while, besides the ad- 
vantages of the mission press, Mr. Barrett rendered 
valuable aid in the Sunday schools and Bible classes. 

Mr. George Cousins had enlarged his temporary 
chapel, still too small, and rejoiced with Mrs. Cousins 
in the progress of the scholars in both schools. He 
also met with much encouragement in the extension 
of the gospel among the villages to the north, where 
eight of the most important places were connected 
with his city church. When he visited Ambohi- 
manga, the officers appointed by the queen to guard 



356 THE MAETYR CHURCH. 

that sacred city and its idols from the intrusion of 
Christians and foreigners, were amongst his most 
attentive hearers. The village stations under the 
care of the other missionaries had also increased and 
were prosperous. When I left in July, there were 
one thousand five hundred communicants in con- 
nection with seven of the churches in the city, and 
by the close of the year their numbers had greatly 
increased ; the influence of the Christians was also 
recognised in every section of the general community, 
and Mr. Toy stated that all the churches were crowded 
every Lord's day. 

The following year, 1866, opened with still more 
promising indications. In April, Mr. Toy received 
into fellowship with his church a hundred and forty- 
five ; thus increasing the number of communicants in 
the church under his care to five hundred. Two 
months later, those under the care of Mr. W. E. 
Cousins exceeded six hundred. The statistics of 
the mission in June, 1866, gave a total of seventy- 
nine city and village churches, under ninety-five 
native and European pastors, with a total of 4,374 
communicants, and nearly 900 children in the mis- 
sion schools. 

The year 1867 opened with the most important 
and joyous event which had yet marked the progress 
of the Madagascar mission — the opening at Amba- 
tonakanga, for the worship of the true God, of the 
first of the memorial churches given by England to 
Madagascar. Its foundation had been laid with 
prayer, its top-stone had been brought forth with 



OPENING OF THE FIRST MEMORIAL CHURCH. 357 

ascriptions of praise to Him by whose guardian care 
the sacred edifice had been completed.* 

The opening day partook of the character of a 
national festival. Christians from the surrounding 
country, as well as from every part of the capital, in 
their holiday attire, gathered in the early morning in 
the surrounding space. Even the heathen gazed with 
wonder at the structure, and felt that the Christian 
worship was something deemed to be of far greater 
importance, and to be offered under circumstances 
vastly more impressive, than had ever been conceived 
of by the votaries of the idols. 

The queen sent in state seven of the highest 
Christian officers of the government, to testify her 
approval of the building with which the city was 
beautified, as well as of the sacred use to which it 
was to be dedicated. 

The building was constructed to hold 1,200, but 
more than 1,500 had forced themselves within the 
walls before the services commenced, and more than 
a thousand, it was calculated, remained outside 
during the whole of the service. After the singing, 

* "When the top-stone with the vane was fixed on the pinnacle 
of the spire, Rainimahazo, the chief mason, proposed to Mr. Sibree, 
and Mr. Cousins the minister of the church, who, with the work- 
men, were sitting on the scaffolding around the top of the spire, 
that they should then and there offer thanks to the Lord, who 
had enabled them to complete the building without accident or 
injury to any one engaged in the work. All took off their hats 
while this devoted man, who was a deacon of the church, offered 
their united thanksgiving to God, who had thus far prospered the 
work of their hands. 



358 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

Eatsiliangia, the native pastor, read the Scriptures. 
Mr. G-. Cousins, the English minister of the church, 
then read a statement of the steps by which the 
object of their generous friends in England had been 
so far realized, thus binding the Christians of Mada- 
gascar in stronger ties of grateful affection to their 
earliest friends beyond the sea. Mr. Toy explained 
the principles and order of the Christian Church. 
Sermons were preached by one of the ministers of 
the church at Andohalo, and by Mr. W. Cousins. 
The dedicatory prayer was offered by Mr. Briggs. 
Native ministers also offered prayer between the 
sermons. At the close, Mr. Jukes pronounced the 
benediction, and the assembly dispersed. 

As soon as the congregation had left the church, 
those who had been waiting outside entered, and 
filled a large portion of the building, in which they 
waited until the afternoon to attend the second ser- 
vice, when native and English ministers again took 
part in the proceedings, as in the morning. 

A full account of these proceedings, including the 
statements and sermons, was printed at the mission 
press and given to the people, as a memorial of the 
consecration to the service of God of the first 
Martyrs' Memorial Church in Madagascar. 

The mission had been strengthened by the arrival 
of Mr. Jukes, appointed to the long vacant station at 
Ankadibevava. Writing of the united missionary 
prayer meeting, which he first attended at Mr. Toy's 
church, at Ambohipotsy, Mr. Jukes observes, — 
" Although the service was announced to commence 



NATIVE MISSIONARY PRAYER MEETING. 359 

at nine o'clock, there were crowds in and aronnd the 
building long before that hour. Mr. Toy told me 
that the keys were fetched from his house as early as 
six, to open the doors to the people, who were at that 
time waiting for admission. When I went, a few 
minutes before nine, the church was densely filled, 
and large numbers were standing round the windows 
and doors, because there was not room for them inside. 
I should think there were at least 1,600 persons 
present, all of whom appeared to manifest great 
interest in the service. It really did my heart good, 
and caused me to praise God for His goodness, as I 
sat there, remembering that I was in a heathen land, 
and looked down upon that vast concourse of people, 
assembled together the first thing on a Monday 
morning to hold a missionary meeting."* 

The increased attention paid to the training of 
young men, to take part in the great work of extend- 
ing the gospel among their countrymen, was in- 
creasing the efficiency of that important agency. Mr. 
Hartley had added a class of this kind to those 
already under the training of the earlier missionaries, 
and was greatly encouraged by the industry and 
progress of his pupils. 

The year was not, however, without its trials. In 
some neighbourhoods the small-pox, which was 
regarded by the natives with absolute terror, made 
its appearance, though in a mild form. This, of 
course, kept some from the public services; but a 

* The meetings at this season of the year are held in the morning, 
as heavy rains often fall later in the day. 




360 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

far more widely spread uneasiness among the 
Christians arose from an order of the queen, issued at 
the instigation of the priests, that all swine should 
be removed to a still greater distance from the 
capital, because it was pretended that the presence of 
these animals was offensive to the idols. It wa*s 
not that the people cared much about being refused 
permission to keep them ; but that in the reign of the 
late queen, when the government had been anxious 
to propitiate the idols, and to afflict the Christians, 
the removal of all swine to a greater distance 
from the capital had always preceded measures of 
severity and repression against the Christians. The 
only accompaniment of the banishment of the offen- 
sive animals on this occasion was an increased 
disregard of the Sabbath privileges of the Christians, 
by the fixing of public government transactions, 
dancing, and other amusements for that day ; these 
prevented a large number of officers and soldiers 
from attending public worship with their families, 
while small congregations were sometimes entirely 
deprived of their preachers. 

Whatever the object of the government may have 
been — and possibly these orders were given with a 
view to prevent the priests attempting greater 
mischief — no other public proceeding troubled the 
Christians. They bore this patiently, for God was 
accompanying the extension of the preaching of His 
truth, with deep impressions upon the minds and the 
hearts of His people, especially among the younger 
members of the highest families of the country; 



AID FKOM THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 361 

increasing numbers of whom preferred the worship 
of God to the pageants and amusements of the 
court, having themselves become earnest and sincere 
disciples of Christ. 

While the gospel, by the zealous efforts of the 
young Christians sent forth by the missionaries, was 
introduced to a greater number of villages, and was 
attended with a larger measure of blessing to those 
into which it had already been sent, no special 
services were appointed, nor any extraordinary means 
employed, beyond the diligent, prayerful teaching 
and preaching of the great truths of salvation, and 
the urging of them on the attention of the Bible 
classes. More than one of the missionaries, in 
referring to the increase about this time, observed, 
" We can only account for it as the work of God." 

The good effect of the opening of the memorial 
church in the beginning of the year, which, in the 
opinion of some, produced considerable impression 
on the minds of the heathen, especially in connection 
with the public approval which the queen had 
distinctly expressed regarding it, was still further 
increased in that locality, when a substantial school, 
built on the west side of the church, and capable of 
receiving a hundred and fifty scholars, was shortly 
afterwards opened. This school had been erected and 
the fittings supplied by the generous aid of the 
Society of Friends in England, who, since the 
reopening of the country to missionary efforts, 
had very liberally contributed towards the promo- 
tion of education amongst the people, in con- 



362 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

nection with the operations of the London Missionary 
Society. 

Not satisfied with simply aiding others in pro- 
viding buildings and materials, the minds of Friends 
in America, as well as in England, were influenced 
in favour of rendering more decided and valuable 
help in missionary work than their Society had 
hitherto given; and, early in 1867, Mr. and Mrs. 
Street, American Friends, came over to England, 
in the hope that some way might be opened for their 
proceeding to Madagascar. Joseph S. Sewell, who 
had had considerable experience in education among 
Friends, was also preparing to enter upon the 
same work. Towards the end of May, soon after 
the opening of the school at Ambatonakanga, these 
Christian helpers, sent out by the Society of Friends, 
reached the capital, and commenced assisting in the 
school. 

These brethren were welcomed with affection and 
pleasure by the missionaries, who felt themselves 
strengthened in that important department which, 
by the death of Mr. Stagg, had been left most de- 
ficient. By friendly arrangement they have been 
able, with God's blessing, to carry forward in 
harmony, and with mutual kindness, the great and 
important objects in which they are unitedly en- 
gaged. 

Although but recently a resident in the country, 
Joseph Sewell, in writing home, bore testimony to the 
earnestness of the people in listening to the words 
of instruction. On one occasion he stated, " I was 



OPENING OF NATIVE BUILT CHAPELS. 363 

particularly interested when one of my young mis- 
sionary friends read from the Bible the ten com- 
mandments. Some of the congregation were so 
intent that they stood with their mouths and eyes 
wide open. My heart quite ached in its longings to 
sound the glad tidings upon the heathen ear. My 
friend, the missionary, had been preceded by a native 
minister, a young man of twenty-seven or eight 
years of age. He and his wife were people of rank, 
but had been disowned by their family and friends 
for their love to the Saviour, and were reduced to 
comparative poverty. They now live in a small 
mud house at the foot of Ampamarinana, from whose 
lofty precipice the martyrs were thrown ; and he 
tells me that he was an eye-witness of some of 
those scenes." 

Native-built chapels at Imahamasina, Amboniloha, 
and other places, were opened in this year. Mr. 
Pool was proceeding, as rapidly as the aid available 
would allow, with the erection of the Memorial 
Church at Ambohipotsy, and before the close of the 
year, Mr. Cameron had laid the foundation of the 
Children's Memorial Church at Faravohitra. 

But the great event of the year, or of the reign, 
was the royal progress of the queen to the eastern 
coast, attended by her chosen bodyguard, and, it 
was said, by 6,000 troops, besides their officers and 
camp followers. Her Majesty required the attend- 
ance of the representatives of subject races in the west 
and the south, as well as of civilians and others 
from Imerina, amounting to 12,000 or 15,000. 



364 THE MARTYR CHURCH, 

Whether the object was to impress the tribes of 
the eastern provinces with the greatness and power 
of the sovereign, to secure homage and tribute, 
or merely to see the ocean and seek renovation 
of health, does not seem to have been very 
clearly known; but the providing of tents and 
equipments, to say nothing of provisions, occupied 
the people of the capital for nearly three months, 
before the vast multitude commenced what was 
truly a formidable journey for so large a host, with 
such a commissariat as they were able to provide, and 
over such a country as they would have to traverse. 
All classes, from the officers and members of the 
court to the bearers or slaves, included a large 
number of Christians ; and three of the missionaries, 
anxious for their spiritual welfare, offered to accom- 
pany them, one at a time. But the government pre- 
ferred that they should remain at the capital. The 
Christians were not insensible to the loss they 
would sustain by the absence of their teachers, nor 
to the dangers arising from the associations and 
irregularities of life to which such an expedition 
would expose them ; and for a week before the time 
fixed for their departure, prayer meetings were held 
in the churches to which they belonged. These 
meetings were all well attended, and on the last 
Sunday before they departed, a united prayer meet- 
ing of all the churches was held at Ambatona- 
kanga, to commend their brethren to the divine 
care, and to ask that they might not only be pre- 
served from evil themselves, but be made a blessing 



THE QUEEN'S JOUKNEY TO THE EAST. 365 

to the heathen amongst whom they were about to 
sojourn. 

The queen and her court set out on the 20th of 
June, a considerable number of her party having 
gone forward in advance some days before. Her 
Majesty travelled in considerable state, the royal tent 
being pitched every night, and surrounded by a rova 
or palisade, which was fixed whenever the queen 
halted. Her own immediate attendants, including 
the diviners who directed the movements of the 
camp, were within this portable inclosure, the whole 
being under the especial protection of the idols and 
their priests or keepers. 

The queen, it was said, did not travel on the Sun- 
day, but whenever the camp halted for any consider- 
able time, as well as on the Sundays, the Christians 
gathered together and held their meetings for wor- 
ship, generally in the open air. These meetings, 
from the first, appear to have been attended by large 
numbers of the travellers who, at home, had never 
entered any place of worship. Men of rank and 
position in the palace or the army, not before re- 
cognised as regular preachers, on these occasions 
sometimes astonished their fellow-Christians by the 
boldness, earnestness, and feeling with which they 
recommended the Lord Jesus Christ as the Saviour 
of all who believed in His name. Nor was this the 
only gratifying circumstance connected with this 
remarkable journey. 

The gathering together of the Christians, their 
preaching and praying, but especially their singing, 



366 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

drew around them, at every place where they halted, 
numbers of their heathen countrymen, who, on these 
occasions, heard for the first time the great truths of 
salvation. The longer they remained at any place, 
the larger grew the numbers that attended these 
religious meetings ; while the attendance, the interest, 
and the inquiries awakened among the heathen, en- 
couraged the Christians to greater watchfulness and 
prayer, at the same time that it increased their 
earnestness in setting forth before the heathen the 
love and grace of the divine Saviour, and the blessed- 
ness of those who believe in Him. 

After an absence of between three and four months, 
the queen returned, halting at Ambohipo, within about 
five miles of Antananarivo, until the diviners should 
declare the favourable day for entering the capital. 

On the 6th of October, the queen, as directed by the 
priests and diviners, entered Antananarivo. It was 
Sunday — the first Sunday of the month — and in the 
afternoon, when the excitement and commotion 
attendant on the event had subsided, all the churches 
and chapels in the capital were thronged to over- 
flowing by the rejoicing worshippers. During the 
following week, a united meeting for thanksgiving 
to God, for the protection and safe return of those 
who had been away, was largely attended. A feeling of 
deep gratitude prevailed among the assembly. Many 
of the Christians had gone forth, if not weeping, yet 
under apprehension of sickness or other trials which 
might await them ; but they had " returned rejoicing, 
bringing their sheaves with them." 



INCREASE OF MISSIONARY LABOUR. 367 

The journey to the coast, as was to be expected, had 
proved unfavourable to some of the Christians, some 
of whom had relapsed ; but the instances in which the 
integrity of the Christian character was not main- 
tained were few, while many returned more earnest 
in promoting their own spiritual improvement, as 
well as more zealous in their endeavours to bring 
others to Christ. Those who had been first brought 
to attend the worship of God in the camp, continued 
regularly to attend the meetings of the Christians in 
their places of worship in the city and suburbs. The 
native preachers became more zealous and faithful, 
and the entire families of those who had associated 
with the Christians on the journey, afterwards be- 
came worshippers, and in due time many were bap- 
tized and united in the fellowship of the church. 

Another remarkable feature in the awakening at 
this time was the enlarged interest, increased attend- 
ance, and spiritually beneficial effects connected with 
the Bible instruction. The aged, adults, and youth 
of both sexes were regular, earnest, and deeply 
attentive learners in these classes, Sometimes the 
chapels were the only places large enough to con- 
tain the numbers who came to hear and to learn. 
God mercifully raised up and brought to the aid of 
the missionaries additional native helpers, or they 
would have been unable to lead the people onward 
in the path of life. As it was, their strength was 
taxed to its utmost limit, and they were often 
obliged to relax for a season, to enable them to 
continue their arduous but delightful work. 



368 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

In this, as in previous seasons of remarkable 
revival of religious earnestness amongst the people, 
there were no additional services and no new methods 
of procedure introduced ; all was effected by increased 
concern in the minds of the people, and by the 
enlarged experience of the influence of the Holy Spirit 
on their hearts. The several pastors of the churches 
had devoted a longer time than heretofore to the 
preparation and admission of members to their 
fellowship, yet the increase is described, even in 
regard to accession to their numbers, as greater than 
ever known since the establishment of the mission ; 
for, at the close of the year, there were twenty- one 
thousand native adherents to the Christians, and five 
thousand communicants. 



369 



CHAPTEK XIV. 

Illness of the queen — Failure of the conspiracy to change 
the dynasty — Death of the queen — Proclamation of her 
successor — Trial and punishment of the conspirators — Rana- 
valona's refusal to acknowledge the priests, idols, and diviners 
— Edicts respecting the Sabbath — Christian worship within 
the precincts of the palace — General religious awakening 
among the people — Missionary visit to Fianarantsoa — Buildings 
of stone and bricks authorized in the capital — Multitudes 
assembled at the coronation — The crown and the Bible — 
Speech of the queen — Declaration of religious liberty — Influ- 
ence of the coronation — Opening of the second memorial 
church — Presence of the queen and court — Review of the year 
— Baptism of the queen and prime minister — Religious ser- 
vices within the palace — The queen and prime minister par- 
take of the Lord's Supper — Training of a native ministry — 
Mr. Sewell's testimony — Spread of the gospel in Betsileo — 
Foundation stone of the Chapel Royal — Fifty years of mis- 
sionary labour in Madagascar — Their glorious results — Mada- 
gascar in 1869 — Inadequacy of the present missionary 
agencies — Appeal for help. 

Thus far the course of Christianity in Madagascar 
had been one continued unfolding of the divine care 
and blessing. The instrumentality employed had 
been weak and imperfect, as all human agency in 
such a work must necessarily be, but the evidence 
of the divine efficiency attending it was thereby 
rendered more unmistakable and strong. 

The progress of Christianity in that country has 
2b 



370 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

been, from the beginning, remarkably instructive; 
but the events which have marked its course during 
the last two years have been, perhaps, unsurpassed 
by any that have recently occurred among other por- 
tions of mankind. It is as if the Most High had 
been repeating, among a small and isolated portion 
of our race, for the encouragement of His Church in 
the present day, the process by which Christianity 
achieved its earlier triumphs, and by which all 
nations shall see His great salvation. 

The opening of the year 1868 was accompanied 
by increased desire on the part of the people after 
acquaintance with the Holy Scriptures, especially 
their practical teaching. Classes for reading and ex- 
plaining the word of God were multiplied ; and these 
were attended by numbers so large as to require the 
meetings to be held in the places of worship. Some 
of the missionaries held several of these during the 
week, and found them attractive and valuable aids 
to the services of the Lord's day, in building up the 
faith and Christian character of their people. These 
services continued to be well attended, and the 
missionaries were continually cheered by additions 
from among the heathen. Messrs. Toy and Pearse, 
who, at this time, paid a visit to Yonizongo, met 
with eight hundred Christians and two hundred 
communicants. 

The queen, whose health had been failing ever 
since her visit to Andevorando, went, early in the 
year, to Ambohimanga, the favourite resort, as 
well as the sanatorium of the royal family. But 



CONSPIRACY IN THE CAPITAL. 371 

the change of air and the charms of scenery, as 
well as the trusted influence of the idols, all failed 
to restore her wasted strength, or renew her waning 
life. 

Humours began to circulate in the capital of a 
vacant throne, and certain partisans of the late 
prime minister, and opponents to his successor, 
formed a plan for seizing and binding, or slaying, 
the officers in charge of the city; their object 
being to take possession of the palace, and to 
change the dynasty, by proclaiming a young man 
of their own party king of Madagascar; and they 
only waited for the queen's death to execute their 
project. 

In the meantime the prime minister sent and 
issued a proclamation against circulating unfounded 
reports, and ordered all his officers to remain in 
their houses, or at their posts with their men. The 
queen was now rapidly sinking. The officers 
endeavoured to persuade her to return, but, as the 
idol had promised her recovery, she refused to make 
the attempt. The prime minister then requested 
the chief of the priests to induce the idol to 
recommend her Majesty to return. The veteran 
hierarch is reported to have replied that he could 
not force god. The minister replied that was true, 
but, perhaps, he might influence his keepers. The 
priests afterwards brought the idol Kelimalaza to 
the queen, and said the oracle declared that her 
Majesty must go to Antananarivo ; but the queen 
doubted their word, asking if they had really 



372 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

received such inspiration; and although they an- 
swered that they really had, she still refused to 
return. 

About this time a rumour reached the conspirators 
that the queen had actually expired, and they began 
to execute their purpose by attacking the officers 
and entering the palace; but the prime minister, 
having intelligence of their proceedings, sent troops, 
with orders to seize their leaders. 

The queen being informed of this movement, sent 
a message that all the men in Antananarivo who 
Avere loyal to her, should repair to the spot where she 
was ; and that night there was scarcely a man left in 
the capital except the conspirators. Ill as she was, 
her Majesty was brought out on a couch under the 
verandah of the house, and was cheered by the 
loyalty and devotion so promptly tendered by her 
subjects. 

The leading conspirators had been already cap- 
tured. The former minister, who at their call had 
nearly reached the city, hastened back when he 
heard of their seizure, but was overtaken by four 
hundred men sent after him, and brought to the 
city a prisoner. The queen was conveyed to the 
capital, and died at the palace on the 1st of 
April. On the following morning, her younger 
sister Eomomo (also called Eamorabe, on account 
of her gentle disposition) was proclaimed queen. 

The tomb of Easoherina was built in the palace 
yard, next to that of Eadama I. Mr. Cameron had 
been requested to prepare the plan and construct 



CHARACTER OF QUEEN RASOHERINA. 373 

the tomb, and when all was completed, the funeral 
ceremonies were observed with much pomp and 
splendour. 

Easoherina was a just and considerate ruler, and 
shared, though perhaps in a less degree, that aversion 
to the shedding of blood which characterized her 
husband Eadama. The eighteen victims who were put 
to death on account of the reports that Eadama was 
still alive, were the only judicial deaths inflicted during 
her reign, which was marked by many instances of 
personal kindness ; especially so was the liberating, at 
her own expense, of the women and children brought 
as captives from the west to be sold as slaves. These 
unoffending victims of war the queen set free, and 
sent home to their native country. Her promise, 
when she came to the throne, to protect the Chris- 
tians was faithfully kept to the end of her life. 
Her confidence in the idols would seem to have been 
shaken, by her conduct after the last pretended com- 
munication from them ; and some incidents during 
her last illness seem also to indicate that she was 
not ignorant of the value of prayer to Jesus Christ. 
The prime minister, in a letter which I received 
from him shortly after her death, spoke of her as 
having prayed to God before she died. 

Eanavalona, the name adopted by the newly pro- 
claimed sovereign, sent word to the missionaries, on 
the morning on which she became queen, that their 
privileges would be preserved ; and the prime min- 
ister, in a letter to them, gave his assurance that the 
change which had taken place would not affect any 



374 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

of the advantages enjoyed by the missionaries or the 
Christians. 

An examination of the conspirators had taken 
place before the death of the late queen, and so 
soon as the ceremonies connected with her funeral 
had terminated, their trial commenced at Analakely, 
the spot where, in the reign of the first Rana- 
valona, so many of the Christians had been sentenced 
to die — some sent to the flames, others to the pre- 
cipice — for their faithful testimony to the goodness 
and love of their God and Saviour. The trial of 
the conspirators appears to have been fairly con- 
ducted; but their forcible seizure of the queen's officers, 
and their entrance to the palace, left no doubt of 
their intention to prevent the next in succession 
from becoming sovereign, and to place on the throne 
a young noble descended, on his mother's side, from 
the family of the first Eadama. 

At the close of the trial the evidence was laid 
before the queen, who summoned a kabary of the 
heads of the people of Imerina. Having had the evi- 
dence presented before them, together with the laws 
of the kingdom in reference to rebellion, she asked 
their advice as to the punishment which should be 
inflicted. The head men of two royal villages coun- 
selled that the conspirators should be put to death. 
The assembly was then dismissed until the following 
day, when additional representatives of the people 
were present, and the same opinion was expressed. 

It ought to be mentioned, that before this trial the 
queen had stated to the officers her wish that no one 






SENTENCE AGAINST THE CONSPIRATORS. 375 

should be put to death in consequence of anything 
connected with her having become queen. After the 
opinions of the representatives had been given, the 
prime minister proposed that the conspirators should 
be put in irons, and imprisoned for life. But the 
prison in which it was at first proposed to confine 
them would have rendered their sentence little better 
than being buried alive ; and in consequence of the 
representations of the missionaries, and other foreign- 
ers, their circumstances were greatly ameliorated. 

Sixteen of the prisoners were condemned to per- 
petual confinement, including some men of rank, and 
a number of those who had been chiefly instrumental 
in causing the death of Eadama; but what was most 
distressing to the missionaries and the churches was 
that some of the conspirators were Christians, and men 
of influence in the churches. The movement itself 
was entirely one of party, and had no connection 
whatever with Christianity or heathenism, as such. 
Both heathens and Christians were found among the 
loyal and devoted, as well as amongst those who had 
attempted to destroy the existing government. It 
may be stated also, that during the present year 
rumours existed of disaffection towards the govern- 
ment, and although the parties suspected entirely 
cleared themselves, the prisoners in confinement near 
the capital, and who had the privilege of receiving 
attention from their friends, were separated, and sent 
as prisoners to distant parts of the country. 

Decisive evidence of the principles and purposes 
of the new sovereign was soon given. On the morn- 



376 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

ing after the funeral of the late queen, the priests of 
the idols came, as priests or keepers, to offer their 
hasina, or acknowledgment of her sovereignty, to the 
new queen. She declined, however, to receive it, and 
informed them that she could not recognise them as ■ 
priests, but only as subjects. The idol of Easoherina 
was also removed from the palace. The astrologers, 
or manipulators of the sikidy, and the diviners were 
also informed that the queen could only regard them 
as subjects, as she did not recognise their pursuits. 

After the termination of the national mourning, 
when the people returned to their ordinary employ- 
ments, the queen issued an order that all government 
work should cease during the Lord's day. About the 
same time the prime minister sent for some of the 
native preachers, and had the Scriptures read and 
prayer offered within the court of the palace. A 
proclamation was some months afterwards issued 
closing all Sunday markets. Weekly markets are 
held throughout Madagascar in different towns and 
villages, on different days, and the people whose 
markets had been held on the Sunday were directed 
to choose some other day. 

On resuming the work connected with the 
mission, after the national mourning, Mr. Pool 
urged forward with constant attention and dili- 
gence the memorial church at Ambohipotsy; and 
Mr. Cameron's work at the children's church at 
Faravohitra was earnestly resumed ; also a building 
for a school, in which might be gathered for public 
worship on the Sunday the inhabitants of the neigh- 



REVIVAL OF RELIGION IN THE CAPITAL. 377 

bourhood who would use the memorial church when 
finished. 

Whether the minds of the people had been 
impressed by the decease of the late queen, at an 
age when she might have been expected, according 
to the ordinary course of nature, to reign many 
years, does not appear. Or whether a sense of the 
uncertainties of life, produced by the imminent 
peril and hopeless suffering of the conspirators, 
some of whom were young men, and most of them 
only in the prime of life, had in any measure ex- 
cited reflection, and aided in producing the religious 
awakening which appeared in renewed vigour after 
the close of the national mourning, is not stated, 
and perhaps was not known ; but at the time now 
under review, all the places of worship were 
crowded. The movement in favour of Christianity 
became general and more strongly marked than it 
had ever appeared before. Respectable families came 
in company to attend the public Sunday services. 
Officers came, attended by their subordinates. The 
most influential portions of society, as well as the 
more numerous members of the servile class, appeared 
to be simultaneously drawn to the house of God on 
the Lord's day, and at other seasons of public wor- 
ship. The existing places of worship were enlarged, 
but the attendance was still in excess of the accom- 
modation at every place ; while additional meetings 
for reading and explaining the Holy Scriptures 
attracted increasing numbers, and appeared to arouse 
more earnest attention among all classes. 



378 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

Sensible of the dangers to which such a state 
of feeling exposed the people, the missionaries 
held special meetings for prayer and conference 
amongst themselves, and arranged to devote greater 
attention and a longer period to grounding their 
catechumens in the great foundation truths of Chris- 
tianity, before they administered baptism or received 
them to the fellowship of the church. This earnest 
religious concern among the people was not con- 
fined to the city or the villages of the province. 
The same attention to the claims of the word of 
God, and the welfare of the soul, appeared to be 
manifest in remote provinces, as well as in 
Imerina; messengers and letters relating to this 
subject came from Betsileo, with its hundreds of 
thousands of inhabitants, two hundred and fifty or 
three hundred miles from the city, a race more 
closely allied with the Hovas than any other in 
the country. 

The government, which had heretofore been un- 
willing that missionaries should visit the Betsileo, 
more enlightened now themselves, encouraged the 
communication of the gospel to these people; and, 
early in July, Messrs. Toy and Jukes spent about 
two months in visiting that country. They found, 
at the chief place occupied by the Hovas, chapels 
built, congregations gathered, and churches formed. 
They proceeded to other places at different dis- 
tances, and found villages, each containing some 
thousand inhabitants, willing to receive Christian 
teaching, and others already meeting for worship on 



CORONATION OF THE NEW QUEEN. 379 

the Sabbath day: few of them retaining any very 
firm hold on their idolatries, and many ready to 
listen to the Christian teachers. At the end of 
August the two missionaries returned, filled with 
thankfulness and joy at having beheld the wide 
surface of fallow ground apparently broken up, and 
ready to receive the precious seed of that divine truth 
which bears fruit unto holiness in the present world, 
and eternal life in that which is to come. 

The great national transaction equivalent to 
coronation in other countries, but here called the 
showing or presenting of the sovereign, took place 
on the 3rd of September, 1868. The large parade 
ground at Imahamasina was covered with encamp- 
ments of strangers from a distance, and with repre- 
sentatives of the subject races. On the day of the 
coronation, Andohalo was thronged from an early 
hour. 

When, at the appointed time, the queen, preceded 
by a hundred ladies of rank, who walked before 
her palanquin, advanced across the plain, ascended 
the richly decorated platform, and appeared before 
her people, she was enthusiastically cheered. Then, 
surrounded by the high officers of her court and 
kingdom, she took her seat beneath the canopy, on 
the front of which was inscribed in shining letters 
the Malagasy words signifying " Glory be to God ;" 
on the other sides, " Good-will among men" " On earth 
joeace" and " God shall be with us." On one hand of 
her Majesty stood a small table with the crown, on 
the other a small table bearing the handsome Bible 



380 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

sent to her predecessor by the British and Foreign 
Bible Society. 

In the truly appropriate and excellent speech 
which the queen delivered to the representatives of 
the nation, there was a frank avowal of her con- 
fidence in them, and her assurance of their loyalty to 
herself; she made a slight reference to her ancestors, 
as the source whence she had derived her position 
and her kingdom, but no allusion whatever to 
the idols. There was reference to the laws, which 
were declared to be, not the expression of the rulers 
will, but of the united will of sovereign and people, 
for the well-being of the country. There was an 
appeal to the officers of government, the nobles, 
judges and higher ranks, as leaders of the people, to 
teach them wisdom, adding, " It rests with you to 
make them wise or to make them foolish;" and 
warning all, that "If any, relying on good service 
formerly rendered, or trusting to my compassion, 
shall do evil to my country and kingdom, I condemn 
them to death." Eespecting the praying,* the queen 
said, " It is not enforced, and it is not forbidden, for 
God made you." When the representatives of the 
assembly had replied and tendered their hasina, 
the queen spoke thus :—" Since such is your 
answer, chiefs, and ye under heaven (all people), 
I take courage, for I have father and I have mother ; 
therefore veloma ! may you live, ye under heaven : 
may God bless you." 

* The term includes preaching as well as praying, viz., the 
whole of Christian worship. 



RECOGNITION OF CHRISTIANITY BY THE QUEEN. 381 

In an account of the coronation which I received 
from one of the native pastors, he mentions four 
things as having deeply impressed him — the absence 
of idols and priests; the mottoes on the canopy; 
the Bible by the side of the queen (in the position in 
which at the coronation of her predecessor we had 
seen the idol) ; and the clear, distinct proclamation 
of religious liberty. Perhaps these were particulars 
of the great event which would most forcibly im- 
press the Christians of all classes. 

An event so unprecedented and so important as 
the public recognition of Christianity on such an 
occasion, by a sovereign . who promised to become 
exceedingly popular, could not fail to have great 
influence with the people; and while the mis- 
sionaries were gladdened by the fresh security given 
for the undisturbed prosecution of their sacred work, 
they were all profoundly impressed with the new 
and not less fearful dangers to which such high 
sanction of Christianity might expose the commu- 
nities over which they had so sedulously watched. 
They had recourse to special prayer for divine 
guidance and protection, and for the more abundant 
influences of the Holy Spirit, that prosperity and 
patronage might not succeed, where persecution had 
failed, to weaken the love of Christ in the hearts, or 
destroy the beauty of holiness in the lives of the 
Christians. They also inculcated on their helpers in 
the work, and studiously exercised themselves, an 
increased prayerful watchfulness over their respec- 
tive flocks. 



382 THE MART YE CHURCH. 

Ambohimanga has already been mentioned as the 
favourite resort of royalty, and, according to the 
custom of her predecessors, Banavalona, accompanied 
by her court, paid a visit to this celebrated place, 
which, having been the birthplace and the burial- 
place of distinguished rulers, as well as containing 
the shrine of one of the national idols, had been con- 
sidered peculiarly sacred. 

Accompanied by Andriambelo, and with Eadama's 
approval, I had, with other Christians, visited this 
city. We had ascended the 'steep path at the 
eastern end of the mountain, and we had addressed 
the few Christians there on the Sabbath day. The 
king's recommendation had secured for us courtesy 
and hospitality ; but our presence had been re- 
garded, not by the queen, but by the priests, as an 
offence to the idols, and as the usual rains were late 
in descending, the priests declared that the idol was 
withholding the rain, that the crops would fail and 
famine and want ensue, because the white man and 
the praying had polluted the place. Hence, in the 
treaty with England concluded just before I left, 
it was stipulated that although Englishmen might 
enter, and Christians might be taught and exercise 
their religion in any place in Madagascar, no 
foreigner should enter, nor Christian worship be 
offered, in three sacred places, of which Ambohi- 
manga was the first. A friendly chief gave the 
Christians ground for a chapel just outside the gate, 
and they worshipped there. 

During the visit of the queen after her coronation, 



CHEISTIAN WOESHIP AT AMBOHIMANGA. 383 

Mr. G. Cousins spent a Sunday at Ambohimanga ; 
the Christians there being connected with the 
church of which he is the pastor. He preached in 
the morning in the open air to two or three thousand 
persons, including the prime minister and several 
officers of the court, and in the evening to a still 
larger number ; and this only three short years after 
Christian worship had been forbidden. Two good 
congregations now assemble there every Sunday, and 
the French treaty opens the place for the residence 
of foreigners. 

Much zeal and earnestness existed at this time 
among the churches generally, of which the follow- 
ing extract of a letter from Mr. Jukes, minister of 
the large church on the east side of the capital, is 
evidence : — 

" At Ankadibevava we have been greatly blessed. 
Our chapel, though enlarged, is crowded to excess ; 
and last Sabbath at least two hundred persons went 
away, unable to gain admittance. 

"At our. last church meeting we. admitted forty- 
five persons, who have had five months' instruction, 
to the full privilege of church membership ; but what 
is far more gratifying to me, than a mere increase 
of numbers, is a growth of spirituality — a striving 
after a higher and purer Christian life, and a fervent 
desire, which marry of them manifest, that those who 
are still in the cruel bonds of sin may be brought to 
that glorious liberty wherewith Christ makes His 
people free. 

"A few weeks ago, Eaindratavy and several of the 



384 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

preachers gathered round me after the Sabbath morn- 
ing service, and said they would like to meet with 
me on a Monday morning, to plead for God's blessing 
on the preaching of the gospel in town and country. 
Of course I approved of this proposal, and preachers 
and deacons have since met with me at sunrise 
every Monday morning, to seek the Master's blessing 
on our previous day's labour. At first we met in my 
house, but that soon became too small, so that we 
hold our meetings in the chapel ; and when I went at 
seven o'clock last Monday, through a drizzly cold 
morning, there were about two hundred persons 
present. At these meetings fervent prayers are 
offered for the outpouring of the Holy Ghost upon 
the Church and the world ; and I feel assured that, 
in answer to such believing pleading, the blessing 
must come — and will come." 

Towards the close of this eventful year, the 
attractive and beautiful church erected from a plan 
by Mr. Sibree, close to the spot where the first Chris- 
tian martyr of Madagascar suffered, was so far com- 
pleted as to admit of its being opened for public 
worship on the 17th of November, 1868. The dila- 
pidated temporary building in which the Christians 
had worshipped, after being repeatedly enlarged, was 
taken down, and a number of tombs were removed 
which had stood on the high road from the city to 
the commanding promontory on which this church 
stands. The road was levelled to the site of the 
building, which affords perhaps the most command- 
ing and extensive view in the whole city, of the east, 





■Su£jj 



THE MEMORIAL CHURCH AT AMBOHIPOTSY. 385 

west, and southern ranges of the country around. It 
will be the first object to strike the eye of the traveller 
in these directions. With the exception of Mr. Toy's 
small garden, all around this spot is arid and sterile. 
For the occasion of the opening of the church, the Chris- 
tians therefore provided a number of green plantain 
trees, which were planted along the narrow neck of 
land leading to the end of the mountain. The foliage 
of these trees was fresh and green when planted, but 
the keen winds that sweep over the mountain soon 
reduced them to ribbons, and left the stems unsightly. 

The queen, who seemed to share her people's joy, 
had intimated her intention of being present, with 
her court, on the public opening of the church. 
Some time after nine o'clock, on the day above 
specified, the missionaries awaited the arrival of the 
sovereign at the northern door of the building (as 
shown in the illustration), and accompanied her 
Majesty and the leading officers to the seat which 
Mr. Pool had specially provided for the queen. The 
singers also proceeded to their appointed place; after 
which the doors were opened, and the crowds who had 
been for hours outside soon filled every available space. 

As soon as there was silence, and the national 
anthem (a prayer for the sovereign) had been sung, 
the prime minister, in the name of the people, paid 
the usual hasina to the queen. Then, turning to the 
people, he urged them to become Christians, by 
trusting in Christ and by accepting the Bible as the 
word or message of God to men. " By doing so," he 
said, "they were not worshipping the ancestors of 
2c 



386 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

the white people, but the God who created them all, 
and Christ who died to take away their guilt." He 
closed by exhorting the people to cleave to the 
religion of Jesus Christ. 

Mr. Toy then stated the purpose for which the 
church had been built, and the arrangement made 
with the late queen for securing it in perpetuity to 
the London Missionary Society, and the Christians 
associated with it. Mr. Sewell read a portion of 
the Scriptures,* and the son of the prime minis- 
ter's eldest sister offered prayer; after which Mr. 
Briggs read a paper on Church Principles. The 
native pastor of the church then preached from Psa. 
lxxii. 18 ; Mr. W. Cousins delivered an excellent and 
impressive discourse ; and Mr. Street closed the 
service with prayer. The national anthem was 
a,gain sung, and the people, after saluting the 
sovereign, left the place. 

All present appear to have been astonished at the 
building, and gratified with the services by which it 
was dedicated to the worship of the living God. 
The impression left by the transactions of this happy 
day will be long retained, and it could not but 
be earnestly desired that they might prove of lasting 
spiritual benefit to many. There could not be many 
present who would remember the constancy and 
love to Christ with which Easalama yielded up her 

* The queen, seeing before the commencement of the service the 
old mission Bible lying on the pulpit, sent her own handsome copy, 
a present from the British and Foreign Bible Society, with a 
request that the ministers would u&e it on the occasion. 



EDUCATIONAL AND LITERARY EFFORTS. 387 

life on that very spot; but if there were any who 
had witnessed her last moments, how strange and 
full of wonder must their thoughts have been this day. 

With grateful feelings the Christians had been ac- 
customed to present themselves on the morning of 
Christmas day before their sovereign, to express their 
gratitude for their continued privileges. Most joy- 
fully therefore did they on Christmas day this year 
present themselves with congratulations before their 
friendly queen, in larger numbers than the spacious 
court of the palace could contain. They were re- 
ceived with evident kindness and welcome, and 
they mingled with their grateful acknowledgments, 
thanksgiving and prayer to God. 

The year, of which this was the last public act, 
had been, with one exception — that of the conspiracy 
— a year of active labour, as well as of unexampled 
success. New, large, and substantial churches had 
been completed, and dedicated to the service and 
worship of God. The gospel had been widely ex- 
tended in the provinces, increased educational efforts 
had been made, and from the press, besides other 
publications, ten thousand native spelling-books had 
been disposed of, and an edition of five thousand 
more was in hand. 

In addition to the attention required for these 
minor publications, literary work imperatively re- 
quired, but for which it was scarcely possible to 
secure the requisite time, had been accomplished. 
The native periodical, Teny Soa (Good Words), had 
in its second year attained a higher character and a 



388 . THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

wider circulation, fostering among many a taste for 
reading. The extremely popular native hymn-book 
had been enlarged, revised, and forwarded to the 
Eeligious Tract Society; by whom a new edition has 
been printed, under the supervision of Mr. Hartley, 
now in England on account of the failure of his 
health. But more important still, the missionaries 
had completed the revision of the Malagasy New 
Testament; twenty thousand copies of which the 
British and Foreign Bible Society have printed, also 
under Mr. Hartley's superintendence. 

This year also the missionaries had succeeded in 
concentrating and organizing their influence and 
energies for the consolidation of their own Christian 
institutions and privileges, as well as for extending 
the influence of the gospel, by the formation of the 
Congregational Union of the Malagasy Churches. 

A large portion of the year, according to the testi- 
mony of the missionaries, had been distinguished by 
unusual earnestness, diligence, watchfulness, and 
prayer, or, as Mr. Jukes in one of his letters expresses 
it, a a striving after a higher spiritual life," as the 
fruit, we cannot but believe, of an enlarged outpour- 
ing of the Holy Spirit. The adherents to the Chris- 
tians during the past year had exceeded all the pre- 
vious years of the mission. 

The statistics of the mission in December, 1868 
were — 

12 English agents, of which 8 were ordained 
ministers. 

20 native pastors. 



STATISTICS OF THE MISSION. 389 

437 native preachers and teachers. 

37,112 adherents to Christianity. 

7,066 communicants. 

Of these, 20,909 adherents, and 2,050 communi- 
cants, were added during the year. 

One of the missionaries, in writing to me, stated 
that although these were the numbers reported, in 
his opinion 50,000 would not exceed the number 
actually associated with the Christians. 

Marvellous as were the tokens of divine favour to 
the church of Madagascar during the year which 
had passed, richer blessings were in store for that 
which followed. The reading of the Scriptures and 
prayer with the prime minister, within the precincts 
of the palace, has already been noticed. After 
returning from her visit to Ambohimanga on the 
1st of November, the queen sent for two of the 
native pastors to preach every Sunday morning and 
afternoon in the palace, where her Majesty and the 
prime minister, with many of the officers, the children 
of the nobles, and the attendants of the court were 
present at the preaching of the word of God. 

At the annual festival of the Malagasy new year, 
which was held on the 21st of January, 1869, the 
Christians and the English were invited, with other 
guests, to the palace, where the feast, in former years, 
had been celebrated with idolatrous ceremonies. 
But on this occasion there was neither idol, priest, 
nor recognition of the gods of the ancestors. 
Instead of this, three of the preachers engaged in 
prayer, and, in her address on the occasion, the queen 



390 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

said, " This is what I have to say to you, my people. 
I have brought my kingdom to lean upon God (or I 
sustain my kingdom by leaning upon God), and I 
expect you, one and all, to be wise and just, and to 
walk in the ways of God." 

Andriainbelo and his companions had been en- 
gaged for some time in instructing the queen in the 
word of God. On the 21st of February, on the invi- 
tation of the queen, the high officers, the judges, the 
nobles, the head men of the people and preachers from 
each of the city churches, assembled in the large court 
in front of the palace. After singing, prayer and 
preaching, Andriambelo, according to previous ar- 
rangement, publicly baptized the queen and the 
prime minister. The ' people who were spectators 
were greatly surprised when they saw the queen, the 
prime minister, and all the Christians greatly moved 
and weeping. We cannot wonder, however, when we 
recollect how many edicts, sentencing to death all who 
called on the name of Jesus, had gone forth from 
that palace; perhaps carried into execution by 
some of those officers, or by the fathers or brothers 
of some gathered on this occasion to behold, in the 
broad light of day, and in the midst of the highest 
dignities of the nation, another Eanavalona, now 
filling the throne of Madagascar, publicly and for 
ever renouncing the idols and every form of heathen- 
ism, and openly, by this act, avowing her faith and 
associating herself with the disciples of the Lord 
Jesus Christ. Well might the Christians weep from 
sympathy, thankfulness and joy. 



BAPTISM OF THE QUEEN AND PRIME MINISTER. 391 

On the following day the queen gave a feast, in the 
same court of the palace, to the officers, the leaders 
or head men among the people, the preachers, and the 
soldiers. Addressing them on this joyous occasion, she 
thus expressed her own feelings : — "I rejoice in the 
blessing of God. I have called you to eat and to drink 
with me." On behalf of the guests, the prime minister 
replied, "Let our thanksgiving, queen, be unto 
God, for we all rejoice in the approach you have 
made unto Him." Three of the native ministers 
engaged in prayer during the feast. 

Andriambelo adds, " From this time the queen and 
the prime minister have been diligent, and have 
made good progress in the knowledge of the word of' 
God. I am surprised at the readiness with which 
the queen acquired the instruction in the book 
of lessons, for persons desiring to be baptized or 
received to the Lord's Supper. The prime minister 
also took lessons with me, and I thanked God when 
I witnessed his progress, and commended him for 
his diligence. I told him that God had been 
merciful to him, in enlightening his mind to know 
these things." 

In a letter which I have since received from 
Andriambelo, he speaks of his continued Sunday 
services in the palace, and of his pleasure in the 
diligence and attention of the queen aud prime 
minister to his instructions, as well as in their 
understanding of the Scriptures. He then com- 
municates the truly gratifying intelligence, that on 
the sixth of June, nearly four months after their 



392 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

baptism, they commemorated the death of Christ 
by partaking of the Lord's Supper, and have thus 
taken their places among those who declare to the 
world that they have given themselves to Christ 
their Lord, and build all their hopes of salvation 
and eternal life upon the great Sacrifice offered on 
the cross once for all. 

From the windows of her palace, the queen may 
now see the dwelling of the man of God who 
nurtured the martyrs' faith, and died a martyr's 
death, and who, in his visits to her brother, Prince 
Eamonja, first implanted in her young mind the 
germs of that heavenly truth which yields the 
precious fruit we now behold. The prime minister 
appears to be equally earnest and sincere in the 
manifestation of the influence of the gospel on his 
own spirit, and the commendation of it to the people. 
He must sometimes look at the spot within the 
palace court in which he buried the martyr's gift, the 
Bible, which he has since so diligently learned to prize. 

The missionaries regard the public avowal of the 
Christian faith, and participation in the ordinances 
of the church, by these high personages with grate- 
ful feelings. Speaking of their baptism and their 
partaking of the communion, Mr. Toy, in his letter 
on the subject, remarks : — " One thing is certain, the 
queen received the same course of instruction as that 
provided for other Christians, whatever may be their 
station in life, and none ever studied more earnestly, 
or manifested a more humble and becoming spirit. 
And the same must be said of the prime minister." 



SPKEAD OF CHRISTIANITY. 393 

These encouraging movements were not confined to 
the palace or the city, but affected parties least likely 
to be brought under such influences. It seemed as 
if, simultaneously with the events above described, 
though without being immediately connected with 
them, interest and concern on the subject of personal 
religion were exercising the thoughts of men, and urging 
inquiries on the minds of many in the country around, 
as well as in more distant parts of the provinces. 

Numbers of individuals were almost constantly 
resorting to the houses of the native Christians or 
teachers, to ask what they must do to be saved. 
These and others were thronging the Bible classes 
and the meetings, amongst them individuals the 
least likely to be seen there, — astrologers, diviners, and 
others — sometimes aged men, the greater portion of 
whose lives had been spent in the service of the idols, 
or in the cruel and superstitious customs of their 
country. One of the missionaries mentions that even 
the late queen's astrologer, or revealer of destiny, was 
a member of his class of candidates for baptism. 

The strong and rapidly extending interest on the 
subject of personal religion, without either places to 
meet in, or suitably qualified teachers to instruct those 
anxious to be taught, led the missionaries to avail 
themselves of the services of young men, who, while 
truly devoted to the work might, in some instances, 
be less competent than they could have desired. 

In one of their communications the missionaries 
state, as indicating the rapid increase of the adherents 
that one hundred congregations were looking to them 



394 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

for help to build either new or larger chapels; aid 
being only given towards providing what the natives 
themselves are unable to supply — such portions of the 
building as have to be bought ; and they add that one- 
third of the buildings, for which aid was sought, would 
accommodate from 800 to 1,200 persons each. 

The missionaries had endeavoured to instruct a few 
suitable young men in their churches to become 
native preachers ; but the limited attention they were 
able to give to this important service, and the few 
they could even partially teach, were so utterly 
unequal to the wants of the country, that Mr. Toy 
and Mr. George Cousins, at the request of their 
brethren, undertook to commence the more effectual 
training of young men for the Christian ministry. 
They commenced, early in April, with thirty-four 
regular students, and any others already engaged in 
teaching were allowed to attend. The tutors have 
been encouraged by the attention and industry 
of their students. At the same time they find it 
quite impossible to continue this most necessary 
work, without transferring to other hands some of 
the duties which they now discharge. 

The arrival of missionaries from the Society of 
Friends has already been noticed. A clear and 
valuable statement from Joseph S. Sewell, of the 
condition and prospects of the Friends' Foreign Mis- 
sion in Madagascar, where he and Mr. and Mrs. 
Street have been successfully engaged for the last 
two years, has been recently published* In advert- 
* Friends Monthly Record, October 15, 1869. 



MISSIONARIES FROM THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. 395 

ing to this communication, it is satisfactory to state 
that Mr. Sewell and his companions were cordially 
welcomed by the missionaries of the London Society; 
that their co-operation, especially in the educational 
department, to which their attention is chiefly 
although not exclusively directed, has been most 
valuable, thorough, and harmonious. Their presence 
is a source of strength and encouragement; their 
removal would be a loss to both missionaries and 
people. Mr. Street has been chiefly engaged in 
visiting the villages, and has found a useful sphere 
in conducting Bible classes ; while Mrs. Street, now 
ably assisted by Miss Gilpin, of the same society, has 
given her attention to the education and improve- 
ment of girls. These Friends have erected two sub- 
stantial schools, one for boys, the other for girls, to 
be under their especial care. 

" As to the great truths of the gospel," Mr. Sewell 
observes, " which we long to see laid hold of by the 
natives of Madagascar, we and the agents of the 
London Missionary Society are of one faith. And 
we are very desirous not to introduce among the 
Christians questions as to forms and ceremonies 
which, even regarded from our point of view, might 
have a tendency to unsettle their minds unprofitably, 
and distract their attention from what is of most im- 
portance, by leading them into nice inquiries as 
to the importance or otherwise of what we consider 
unessential." 

Speaking of the capital, the chief seat of the mis- 
sion, the same writer says, "There are few towns 



396 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

in England where the Sabbath is better observed, or 
where there is a better attendance at the places of 
worship ; and since I came I have not, to my know- 
ledge, seen more than two persons drank. There 
are bnt few people seen about the streets during the 
hours of public worship, and there cannot be much 
fewer than 10,000 people who are in the habit of 
attending one or other of the thirteen Protestant 
places of worship, within the town and its suburbs, 
every Sabbath. About three or four hundred 
preachers are frequently engaged in preaching, 
either in the town or the surrounding villages; of 
whom about sixty or seventy go out every Sabbath 
day to assist the village congregations, — most of 
them walking five, six, or eight miles, and some 
much further." 

After enumerating the defects amongst the 
preachers and the general body of the Christians, 
Mr. Sewell bears the following testimony to the 
great change now in progress among the people: — 
" My own firm conviction is, that with much that is 
unsatisfactory, there is a great work going on in this 
country, of which the Holy Spirit is the author, and 
that, with much that is merely outside profession, 
there is a large amount of genuine Christianity 
which is decidedly on the increase." 

A glance at the introductory chapter of this 
volume, where the despotism of the religion and 
government of the country, together with the 
sanction, encouragement, and the reward, often, of 
immorality are noticed, will do much to account 



MISSION TO THE BETSILEO. 397 

for the low standard of morality which Mr. Sewell 
with truthfulness and great candour reports, and 
which every Christian must deplore; while it will 
increase our thankfulness that so many have been 
raised from the mournful degradation in which all 
were originally held. 

The narrative of the progress and triumph of the 
gospel in Madagascar would be incomplete without 
some further notice of the astonishing growth of 
Christianity in the Betsileo province, which has 
received only native culture and a brief visit from 
the English missionary. From this country, Mr. 
Jukes, one of the missionaries from Antananarivo, 
writes in August, 1869 : — " I am filled with wonder 
and gratitude at the showers of grace with which 
God is favouring His Church. Everywhere that I 
go, the cry is for instruction in divine things, and 
Christian congregations are being formed in every 
direction. The progress made in the Betsileo country 
is quite equal to, if it does not surpass, the progress 
in Imerina last year. Here, where I am staying, two 
days west of Fianarantsoa, there is a most interesting 
congregation, composed almost entirely of Betsileo, 
who come to chapel with no dress but a mat, and 
listen most attentively to the gospel. 

" I find in preaching to these people, as I did in 
England, that nothing gains their attention and wins 
their hearts so much as the ' old, old,' but ever new 
'story' of the Saviour's love. The people here are 
about to build a new chapel, capable of accommodating 
1,000 hearers; but I think it will be too small for 



398 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

the crowds who flock to hear the gospel. From this 
village right onward to the west coast, congregations 
have been formed, and the Christians have begged me 
to visit them." 

To this large province of the Betsileo, which has 
hitherto only received the culture of native Chris- 
tians from Imerina, and occasional visits from the 
missionaries, an English missionary has now been 
sent out; and others are early expected to proceed to 
this truly inviting field. 

In closing the narrative of the glorious progress of 
Christianity in Madagascar, it only remains to notice 
its last and greatest achievement, a truly national 
triumph, which will impart a character of dignity 
and permanence to the worship and service of the 
living God that will affect every town and village 
in the kingdom. The foundation stone of a stately 
Chapel Eoyal, to be built of granite, was publicly 
laid within the precincts of the national Palace at 
the capital, by the Queen of Madagascar, on the 
20th of July, 1869. After Malagasy and English 
ministers had invoked the divine blessing on the 
work, and on the sovereign by whom it was under- 
taken, a regal document was read and deposited 
within the stone. This edict, printed copies of 
which were widely distributed, enacted that the 
building should neither be destroyed nor diverted 
to any other purpose than that for which it was 
built; and further declared that any successor of 
the present ruler or sovereign who should destroy 
that edifice, or appropriate it to any other use than 



GENERAL PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY. 399 

that previously stated, should not be allowed to be 
sovereign of Madagascar for ever. 

We have reached the fiftieth year since Christi- 
anity first entered the capital of Madagascar, and the 
results of its progress during the intervening years 
demand our unfeigned thankfulness to God. Multi- 
tudes of the people have renounced their household 
idols. The national idols have been removed from 
the palace, the priests no longer form part of the 
court, and the astrologers and the diviners are no 
longer recognised; some of these have since found 
a place in the missionaries' Bible class, at the 
Christians' prayer meeting, or among the numbers 
who have, by baptism, publicly renounced heathenism 
and avowed their faith in Christ. A royal sanctuary 
for the worship of the living God is in course of 
erection, within that place which was deemed so 
sacred to idolatry that the head of every one who 
crossed it was uncovered, and obeisance rendered to 
the tombs of the deified dead which it contained. 
Christianity, in the person of the queen, now sits 
enthroned in the royal palace, which resounds with 
the preaching of the everlasting gospel, and with 
Christian prayer and praise. 

Every Christian household in the city has its 
family altar, and ten or twelve thousand of the citi- 
zens publicly worship their God and Saviour every 
Sabbath day. The towns and villages in the pro- 
vince share these privileges, which are extending to 
remote regions of the country, and the Christians 
are now supposed to number 60,000. Other results 



400 THE MARTYR CHURCH. 

have followed. The standard of morals is surely 
though gradually rising. The laws are becoming 
less sanguinary, and greater care is taken in the 
appointment of those who administer them ; a large 
portion of the judges at the present time being 
Christians. 

The conflict was long and sanguinary before Chris- 
tianity gained the citadel of the nation's idolatry. 
The battle has now been won ; but it yet remains to 
secure the fruits of the victory which God, by His 
Spirit, has achieved. The agencies in the field are 
unequal to the demands made by the very success 
of the work. The missionaries cannot maintain 
their present position without help, and Christianity 
cannot remain where it is ; it must advance in the 
direction in which its divine Author is encouraging 
His servants to proceed. To halt will be to court 
desertion, reaction, and loss. May the friends and 
supporters of that society which God has honoured, 
by employing it instrumentally to accomplish this 
great work, while rendering to Him all the praise, 
bear the mission in its present joyous but critical 
position upon their hearts in prayer, and encourage 
the London Missionary Society, by whom the mis- 
sion was originated and is sustained, not only to 
preserve in the faith those already gathered unto 
Christ, but to send the gospel to the multitudes 
around, — many of whom are earnestly seeking and 
asking what they must do to be saved. 






401 

POSTSCRIPT. 

Since the foregoing sheets were printed, and a few 
copies bound up, the most important intelligence which 
has yet been received from Madagascar has arrived, — the 
public burning of the national idols, and the satisfactory 
completion of arrangements for establishing and main- 
taining an extensive native agency in the central pro- 
vinces. This information is, in part, contained in the 
following letter from the prime minister, and the re- 
maining part in communications from the missionaries : — 

TRANSLATION. 

" Antananarivo, Sept. 8th, 1869. 
" To the Eev. William Ellis. 

" Dear Friend, 

" I have received the letter which you wrote on the 
14th of April last, telling me of your joy and praise to God 
when you heard how the queen loved the word of God, and 
proposed to walk in His ways ; also to trust in the great 
Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ. 

" Tes, there was true reason for your rejoicing, for things 
greatly to gladden the heart indeed are these. We may 
indeed praise God, for it is as His Word, which says, ' The 
sovereign's heart is in the hand of the Lord ; He turneth it 
whithersoever He will.' God has guided the heart of the 
queen to that which pleases Him, and caused her to under- 
stand that in which He delights ; and now the queen has 
been baptized, and has partaken of the feast of the Lord. 

" We are also building a beautiful stone house within the 
court of the palace, to be a house for the worship of God. 
The good friend, Mr. William Pool, made the marhy (drawing 
or plan) of that good house. Joyous are the men in this 
good work; energetic are the Christians, because they see 
the worship of the sovereign; for those who believe in 
2D 



402 POSTSCRIPT. 

Jesus Christ have no anxiety and no fear. Truly rejoicing 
is it to behold the deportment of the people at Antananarivo 
on the Sabbath day. Scarcely is any one to be seen in the 
streets until the close of the public worship, because the 
great majority of the people assemble in the houses of 
prayer. No public work is done on that joyful day. 

" And this, my friend, is another fresh cause of rejoicing 
here. On the same day that I write this letter to you, the 
queen sent for the officers and the heads (of the people) to 
come within the court of the palace, and when they were 
assembled, the queen said, — ■' I shall not lean upon nor 
trust again in the idols, for they are blocks of wood; but 
upon God and Jesus Christ do I now lean or trust. And as 
for the idols (viz., the national idols), I shall burn them, or 
cause them to be burned ; for they do no good whatever ; 
they are all deceit and falsehood.' 

" And when the people heard this they expressed their 
pleasure, and asked the queen if she would summon a 
kabary, or general assembly, to cause all the idols of the 
people to be burned. 

" The queen answered, and said, ■ That would please me. 
I have no desire that there should be idols any more in my 
kingdom. Nevertheless, I do not force, or compel you, 
my people.' 

" Then agreed, or consented the people, there before the 
queen, to the burning of all the national idols in Mada- 
gascar; and the queen, consenting, rejoiced And on the 
same day the queen sent officers to burn all the idols 
of the queen, which are called Eakelimalaza, Rafantaka, 
Ramanjakatsiroa, Ramahavaly, &c, &c. And they were all 
burned, and some of the people also burned theirs. 

" And astonished to the utmost were the keepers of the 
idols when they saw the idols in the flames ; for they had 
said that the idols were too sacred and powerful to be 
affected by the burning. 

''• That was a new thing here, therefore we sincerely 
thank God, for He has manifested His power here in Mada- 



POSTSCRIPT. 403 

gascar. And (we thank God also) because He has given to 
the queen a true heart to put away the root of belief in 
things that are nothing (have no existences). 

"I rejoiced when I heard that you (the Christians in 
England) prayed unto God for me. For that I thank you, 
indeed, greatly. May the blessing of God be with you. 

" I visit you, and your family, and my desire for you is 
that God may bless you. 

" Saith your true friend, 

" EAINIL AIAEIYONY, 

" Prime Minister." 

A short time before the date of the above letter, the 
service of all the people was required by the govern- 
ment. On this occasion the keepers of Kelimalaza, one 
of the national idols, sent to the queen to say that as 
keepers of the idol they had hitherto been exempt from 
public service, and that though the queen did not use her 
idols, these idols were still in their keeping, and they peti- 
tioned that on that account they might not be required to 
do public work with the rest of the people. The queen 
replied that the idols had never been her idols, that her 
purpose was to trust in God and Jesus Christ, and to lead 
her kingdom to do the same ; but not being quite certain 
as to the best way of disposing of the idols, the queen 
summoned the assembly mentioned in her minister's 
letter given above. One of the officers observed that the 
best course would be to burn them, and when this had 
been approved by the assembly, a number of officers were 
sent, on horseback,* to Ambohimanambola (the village 
having money), where the idol was kept, to destroy it. 

* Horses were said to be very offensive to the idols, and one of the 
causes for which Dr. Lvall, the British Agent at the capital, was 
sent out of the country was the riding of his horse into or through 
a village where an idol was kept. 



404 POSTSCRIPT. 

On arriving at the house where the idol was kept, they 
inquired of the keepers whether the idol belonged to 
them or to the queen. The keepers answered that it 
belonged to the queen. The officers then directed them 
to bring the queen's property out to them, and when the 
idol was brought, the keepers were desired to bring some 
fuel; but everyone of them refusing to do this, the officers 
ordered their attendants to bring wood, which was, 
kindled, and, to the almost frantic terror of the keepers, 
the idol was soon consumed in the midst of the flames. 
Other parties were sent to the different sacred places 
where the rest of the national idols were kept, and all 
these, together with some of the people's idols, were also 
destroyed. 

A number of the people expressed their fear that their 
rice crops would be no longer protected, and would pro- 
bably be destroyed by hail, but those who had any mis- 
givings about the result of the destruction of the idols 
were few in comparison with the great body of the people, 
who rejoiced that they had been committed to the flames. 

Simultaneously with this action of the queen, the 
additions to the number of adherents to Christianity have 
been so vastly increased, that the churches have been 
unitedly organized for selecting from among themselves, 
sending out, superintending, and supporting a large 
number, probably between one and two hundred, addi- 
tional preachers ; and to encourage the churches and the 
missionaries in these movements for the evangelization of 
the country, the government will exempt from public 
service all who are approved and appointed to this work 
by the missionaries, and the churches to which they 
belong. 

Personal service is required by the government from 



POSTSCRIPT. 405 

all classes, and even Andriambelo and other native 
pastors have had to attend at fixed times, as government 
servants, at the houses of the chief officers. Carpenters, 
masons, and other skilled workmen were, however, 
occasionally released from government work when em- 
ployed in furthering the objects of the mission, as in the 
building of the memorial churches. But no exemption so 
valuable as that which the queen has now given was ever 
before granted. 

The queen and her ministry have also united with the 
Christians in their endeavours to send forth the additional 
native preachers now so urgently needed. Besides the 
applications sent to the missionaries, a number of people 
in the eastern part of the country — through which the 
late queen and her court travelled in 1867 — wrote to the 
prime minister, asking for teachers. The minister invited 
the missionaries to a conference, at which it was agreed 
that the queen, the congregation connected with the 
palace, and the congregations in the capital, should unite 
and form a sort of Malagasy Home Missionary Society in 
furtherance of this object. It was at the same time 
arranged that the congregations in the city should select, 
appoint, and send out, as many suitably qualified men as 
were willing to undertake this service; and that the 
queen, the congregation connected with the palace, and 
the other city congregations, should collect or give money 
to sustain the men approved and sent out by the mission- 
aries and the congregations. 

In order to encourage and aid all, it was arranged that 
the gift of the queen, and the money raised by the 
congregation connected with the palace, should be divided 
amongst the congregations according to the number of 
teachers which they might respectively send out. The 



406 POSTSCRIPT. 

queen and the congregation connected with the palace did 
not send out any preachers, but only united in furnishing 
the means of support for those whom the other churches 
sent. A considerable number have already entered upon 
their work, having been commended to the care of the 
great Head of the Church by the missionaries and the 
churches to which they belonged. 

The queen required that a list of the names of those 
who had been appointed should be sent to her before they 
entered upon their work, and when satisfied of the loyalty 
of these men, she exempted them from government service, 
and sent a messenger with them to show her approval of 
their object and to recommend attention to their teaching. 
The queen also sent, or gave, to each teacher a short, sen- 
sible, and earnest letter, exhorting them to fidelity by re- 
minding them of the words of their divine Lord, and 
warning them against teaching error or encouraging law- 
leas conduct. 

The intimate relation that was formerly believed to 
exist between the rulers of the country and the objects of 
their idolatrous worship, might have been expected to 
induce a Christian ruler to think it right to use some 
degree of authority in connection with the movements of 
her Christian subjects ; but, however individual members 
of the government may have shown a disposition to 
influence religious matters, no official act of the govern- 
ment has interfered with the free action of the Christians 
in their religious proceedings ; and our hope and prayer 
is that the Lord Jesus may preserve unto them that Chris- 
tian liberty wherewith He has made them free. 

The following translation of a copy, in the native 
language, of one of the letters sent by the queen to the 
preachers, which I received by the last mail from Mr. 



POSTSCRIPT. 407 

Cameron, will show her own view of their work, and the 
responsibilities associated with it : — 

TRANSLATION. 

"I, Eanavalona-Manjaka, Sovereign of Madagascar, 
have agreed that the men selected by the Church north of 
Andohalo should go to teach and preach the word of God, 
according to the command of Jesus Christ, which is 
written in xvi. chap, of Mark, and the 15th verse, saying, 
* Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to all 
people.' 

"I, Eanavalona Manjaka, Sovereign of Madagascar, and 
the congregation (assembling) within the enclosure of the 
palace, with the congregation to the north of Andohalo, 
have each one paid money to form a Malagasy Society for 
you to go to teach and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ ; 
and on account of that, I, Eanavalona Manjaka, Queen of 
Madagascar, counsel and exhort you who go. 

" I. — In reference to that for which you go. If you should 
not teach well the word of God, and seek to increase the 
kingdom of Jesus Christ, according to the word in the 
Holy Scriptures ; but if that be changed, and especially if 
something different be taught, not according to the word 
of God, then remember the word of Jesus Christ which is 
written in Luke xvii. 2, ' It were better for him that a 
millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into 
the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.' 
Therefore walk well, conformably to that for which you 
are sent, lest should come the word of Jesus Christ which 
declares, ' Cast into outer darkness the unprofitable ser- 
vant, to the weeping and gnashing of teeth ! ' 

" II. — I also say unto you that if your teaching be not 
according to that which I have stated above, but if you 



408 POSTSCRIPT. 

make my people the means of getting money and property, 
especially if you lead them to do evil, to break the laws of 
my kingdom, shall I not treat you as guilty ] for I shall 
not have (the people of) my kingdom taught as fools, for 
I have brought my kingdom to rest upon God. 

" III. — Finally, * Be diligent, and endure hardness, as 
good soldiers of Jesus Christ.' — 2 Tim. ii. 3 ; 1 Peter, v. 2 : 
' Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the 
oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly ; not 
for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind.' 

" May the blessing of God be with you, and render 
successful the good work in Jesus Christ for which the 
Church has selected you. And may Jehovah bless you, 
and keep you, and cause His face to shine upon you. 

" Jehovah bless thee and keep thee. 

" Jehovah make His face to shine upon thee, and be 
gracious unto thee. 

" Jehovah lift up His countenance upon thee, and give 
thee peace. 

" And may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love 
of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with 
you and all the people whom you teach. Amen." 

" This is the true word in which Kanavalona Manjaka, 
the Queen of Madagascar, exhorts the men who go forth 
to teach, saith 

« BAIMLAIAKIVONY, 
" Prime Minister. 

" Antananarivo, 
" November 15, 1869." 



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*** Fifty Copies, for Distribution, at half price, on application to 
the Publishers. 

THE 00NFESS0ES OF N0L T 00NF0EMITY. 
I. 

The Two Thousand Confessors of Sixteen Hun- 
dred and Sixty-two. By Eev. "THOMAS COLEMAN. Cheap 
Edition, fcap. Svo., price 2s., cloth. 

"The memorials of these eventful times are collected with diligent care and 
tender feeling in the volume before us. It is difficult to read it without paying 
the tribute of grateful a^d admiring tears to the brave and godly men whose 
history is hereto touchingly recorded.*' — Baptist Magazine. 

II. 

The Shepherd of Grove Hall. A Story of the 

"Ejection of the Nonconformist Ministers in 1662. Post Svo., price 
2s. 6d., cloth. 

" The subject of this story ranks with the greatest in the history of England, 
and the idea of the work is in every way a happy one. It is a volume fraught 
with instruction, and replete with interest." — Christian Witness. 

III. 

The Works of John Robinson, the Pastor of the 

Pilgrim Fathers. With a Memoir und Annotations, by Eev. 
ROBERT ASHTON. Three vols., post Svo., 9s., cloth. 



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TO MINISTEES AND STUDENTS. 
Lectures on Christian theology. By the late 

Rev. GEORGE PAYNE, LL.D. With Memoir by Rev. J. PYER, 
and Reminiscences by Rev. RALPH WARDLAW, D.D. Edited 
by Rev. E. DAVTES. Two large volumes, 8vo., price 12s.. cloth. 



DE. PAYNE ON MENTAL AND MOEAL SCIENCE. 
Elements of Mental and Moral Science. By 

the late Rev. G. PAYNE, LL.D. Fifth Edition, 8vo., price 
8s. 6d., cloth. 



MAEEIAGE AND BUEIAL SEEVICE TOE DISSENTEES. 
An Order for the Solemnization of Matrimony. 

Together with an Order for the Burial of the Dead, to which are 
added Scripture Passages suited to Baptismal Services. Bv Rev. 
E. R. CONDER, M.A. New and Improved Edition, 8vo./ cloth, 
red edges, price 2s. 6d. 

> 

BEY. NEWMAN HALL' S LITUEGY POE PEEE CHUECHES. 
The Free Church Service Book. Five Short 

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tional Use. Selected from the Book of Common Prayer, by Rev. 
NEWMAN HALL, LL.B. Imperial 32mo., price 4d. ; cloth, red 
edges, 6d. 

*..,* A liberal Discount allowed to Congregations. 

IMPOETANT SEEIES OF ANTI-EITUALIST TEACTS. 
Church Tracts for the Times. By Rev. 

NEWMAN HALL, Rev. F. S. WILLIAMS, and others. Price 

3s. 6d. per Hundred. 
This Series of Tracts is designed to meet a requirement much felt at 
the present time, of a concise and popular refutation of the leading 
Ritualist dogmas, written in a pithy, incisive style, suitable alike for 
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EEV. JOHN KELLY'S SEEMONS. 
Sermons on various Subjects. By the Rev. 

JOHN KELLY, Liverpool. Crown 8vo., price 7s., cloth. 

" Mr. Kelly is a deep and close thinker. He can put the greatest thoughts in 
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in touches of the most genuine pathos."— Christian Times. 



EEV. H. J. GAMBLE'S SEBMOHS. 

I. 

Sermons Preached at Clapton Chapel. By Rev. 

H. J. GAMBLE. Crown 8vo., price 4s., cloth. 
II. 

Paul the Apostle : Sketches from his Life. 

A Series of Lectures. Second Edition, small Svo., price 3s., cloth. 

EEV. T. W. AVELItfGS SEKMOttS. 

I. 

Naaman ; or, Life's Shadows and Sunshine. 

A Series of Lectures. By Rev. THOMAS W. AVELIKG. Fcap 
8vo., price 3s., cloth. 

II. 

The Life and Character of Elijah the Prophet. 

A Series of Lectures. 8vo., 2s., cloth. 

EEV. JOSIAH VBTEY ON PEAOTIOAL CHBISTIAJHTY. 

Christian Fruitfulness ; or, Practical Develop- 
ments of Spiritual Life. By Rev. JOSIAH VINEY. Crown 8vo., 
price 3s. 6d., cloth. 

" It is a book which, if thought over and prayed over, will be the means of a 
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EEV. DE. EALEIG-H'S SEEMONS. 
I. 

God's Purpose and Mans Opportunity : a Ser- 
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sand, crown 8vo., price 6d. 

II. 

The Chariot of Israel and the Horsemen thereof : 

a Sermon. Crown 8vo., price Is. 
III. 

Questions and Duties of the Times. Being the 

Address delivered from the Chair to the Congregational Union of 
England and Wales. Price One Penny. 

EEY. DE. GEOBGE SMITH'S SEEM02TS. 
The Spiritual Life ' Sermons preached at Trinity 

Chapel, Poplar. By Rev. GEORGE SMITH, D.D. Small 8vo., 
price 2s., cloth. 

EEV. DE. SPEIOE'S SEEMONS. 
The Religion for Mankind; Christianity adapted 

to Man in all the Aspects of his Being. A Series of Lectures. By 
Rev. JAMES SPENCE, D.D. Ecap. 8vo., Is. 6d. cloth. 

EEY. DE. LEGGffi'S SEEMONS. 
Christianity in Harmony with Man's Nature 9 

Present and Progressive. By Rev. GEORGE LEGGE, LL.D. 
Crown 8vo., price Is. 6d., cloth. 

THE LATE DE. CAMPBELL'S WOEK ON POPEEY. 
Popery ; Ancient and Modern. Its Spirit , 

Principles, Character, Objects, Prospects, Checks, and Extirpation; 
with Warnings and Counsels to the People of England. Bv 
JOHN CAMPBELL, D.T>. Post 8vo., price 6s., cloth. 



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THE AUTHOE OF "GLIMPSES OP OUE HEAVENLY 

HOME." 

I. 

Glimpses of our Heavenly Home ; or, the Destiny 

of the Glorified. Sixth Edition, fcap. 8vo., price 2s. 6d., cloth. 

" A beautiful book on a theme fall of loveliness and glory." — Baptist Magazine. 

II. 

Life at Bethany ; or, the Words and 'Tears of 

Jesus. By the Author of " Glimpses of our Heavenly Home." 
Second Edition, fcap. Svo., price 2s. 6d., cloth. 

JAMES GrEAETT, ESQ. 

The Brother Born for Adversity ; or, the Simi- 
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Followers. By the Author of " God is Love," &c. Fourth Thousand 
18mo., price Is. 6d., cloth. 

MISS BEDPOST. 
Light Beyond ; Thoughts to Guide and Cheer. 

By EEBECCA M. BEDFORD. Cheap Edition, price Is., cloth. 

EEADLTCS PEOM JOHN HOWE. 
Thoughts for the Devout. Being Scriptural 

Exercises for Every Day in the Year. Arranged and adapted from 
the Writings of Rev. JOHN HOWE, M.A. By Rev. T. C. HINE. 
Sydenham. Post Svo., price 4s., cloth. 

EEY. E. TEMPLE. 

I. 

The Christian's Daily Treasury : being a 

Religious Exercise for Every Day in the Year. By Rev. E. 
TEMPLE. Third Edition, Post Svo., price 3s., cloth. 

II. 

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WORKS ON MISSIONS. 

THE SOUTH SEAS. 

Nineteen Tears in Polynesia. Missionary Life, 

Travels, and Researches in the Islands of the Pacific. By Rev. 
GEORGE TURNER, D.D. Second Thousand, One large Volume, 
8vo., with Map and Illustrations, 12s., cloth. 
" One of the best of our missionary books. It takes rank with the great works 
of Williams, Moffat, and Livingstone."— Nonconformist. 

Missions in Western Polynesia ; being Historical 

Sketches of these Missions to the present time. By Rev. A. W. 
MURRAY. With Map and Illustrations, 8vo., price 10s. 6d., cloth. 

" Mr. Murray's details would be regarded as a missionary romance but for the 
repeated histories of the wonderful results of Polynesian missions." — Sydney 
Morning Herald. 

Mission Life in the Islands of the Pacific : a 

Narrative of the Life and Labours of Aaron Buzacott, Missionary to 
the South Seas, the Friend and Companion of John Williams. 
Crown 8vo., with Engravings, 6s., cloth. 
Since the Life of Williams there has been no picture from the South Sea 
Mission so vivid as the Life of Buzacott."— Sunday Magazine. 

A Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in the 

South Sea Islands. By Rev. JOHN WILLIAMS. Unabridged 
Edition, with Engravings, and Introduction by the late Rev. Dr. 
TIDMAN. Sixty-sixth Thousand, 8vo., price Is. 

Memoirs of the Life of Rev. John Williams. 

By Rev. E. PROUT. Sixth Thousand, 8vo., price 3s.; cloth, 4s. 

" John Williams was as true a saint and martyr as any man that has been 
canonized, and the record of his wonderful life and labours, and of his tragical 
end, will be read with undiminished interest by generations yet unborn." — 
Journal of Sacred Literature. 

The Martyr of Erromanga ; or, the Philosophy 

of Missions. Illustrated from the Labours, Death, and Character 
of John Williams. By J. CAMPBELL, D. D. 8vo., 4s., cloth. 

Savage Island: its Physical Characteristics, 

and the Past and Present State of Us Inhabitants. By Rev. 
THOMAS POWELL. With Map of the Island, price 6d. 

. The Missionary's Reward ; or, Success of the 



, \ in the Pacific. By Rev. G. PEITCHARD. Fcap. 8vo., 
2s. 6d., cloth. 

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JOHX SXOU',1- GO.'S SELECT LIST 01-' BOOKS. 10 
WORKS ON MISSIONS^- continued. 

AFEICA. 
Missionary Labours and Scenes in Southern 

Africa. By Rev. ROBERT MOFFAT. Unabridged Edition, wifii 

Engravings, and Portrait of the Author, taken from a recent Photo- 
graph. Thirtieth Thousand, price Is. 

The Life, Times, and Missionary Enterprises, 

in South Africa, of the Per. Join Camplell. By Rev. R. PHILIP. 

Post Svo., with Portrait, price 2s. 8d., cloth. 

MADAGASCAR 

The Martyr Church of Madagascar ; a Record 

of the Introduction, Progress, and Triumph of Christianity in that 
Island. "With Notices of Personal Intercourse and Travel. By 
Rev. WILLIAM ELLIS, Author of 'Three Visits to Madagascar," 
"Madagascar Revisited," lice. With numerous Engravings, crown 
Svo., 7s. 6d., cloth. 

Madagascar : its Missions and its Martyrs. 

By Rev. E. PSOUT. Svo., 3s. 6d. cloth. 

GHDJA. 

China : its State and Prospects, with Remarks 

an the Antiquity, Population, Civilization, Literature, Religion, 

and Manners of the Chinese. By W. H. Medhurst, D.D. Fifth 

Thousand. One volume, Svo. with numerous Engravings, 5s., cloth. 

"This book will be the standard work on Chinese Missions." — Tf'eslei/an 

Magazine. 

Memoirs of the Life and Labours of Robert 

Morrison, D.D., Missionary to China. By his WIDOW. 
With Critical Notes by Professor KIDD. Two vols., Svc, 24s., cloth. 

WEST INDIES. 
The Voice of Jubilee: a Narrative of the 

Baptist Mission in Jamaica. With Biographical Notices of its 
Fathers and Founders. Crown Svo., 6s., cloth. 

The Missionary's Wife ; a Memoir of Mrs. 

M. A. Henderson, of Demerara. By her HUSBAND. Fcap. Svo.. 
2s., cloth. 

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14 JOHN SNO W & CO?S SELECT LIST OF BOOKS. 
WORKS ON MISSIONS— continued. 

INDIA. 

India and Christian Missions. A Popular 

Account of the Character, Social Customs, and religious State of the 
People ; and of the Agencies, Obstacles, Results, and Prospects of 
Indian Missions. By Rev. E. STORROW. Fcap., Is. 6d., cloth. 

"The most truthful book on Indian Missions we have ever met."— Calcutta 
Jtevieiv. 

The Dawn of Light : a Story of the Zenana 

Mission in India. By MARY E, LESLIE, Calcutta. With 
Preface by Rev. E. Stojkhow. Second Edition, 18mo., 2s., cloth. 

The Eastern Lily Gathered : a Memoir of Bala 

Skoondore Tagore, a Hindu Lady. With Observations on the 
Position and Prospects of Hindu Female Society. By Rev. E. 
STORROW. Second Edition, 18mo., Is. 6d., cloth. 

" The memoir of this Hindu girl dying in her nineteenth year, with the praise 
of the Saviour on her lips, has features which will entitle it to a prominent and 
honoured niche in the department of female Christian biography. The appear- 
ance of the star announcing the birth of the Saviour was not more welcome to 
the Magi than the first intimation of Christian truth was to this young girl. 
She kept her eye intensely fixed on this gleam of light till it brought her into 
the presf-nce of the Saviour, to whom she presented the offering of a loving and 
grateful heart." — Christian Times. 

Missionary Encouragements in India: or, the 

Christian Village in Oujurat. By Rev. W. CLARKSON. 
Seventh Edition, with Engravings, 18mo., Is., cloth. 

Recollections of Northern India. With Observa- 
tions on the Origin, Customs, and Moral Sentiments of the Hindus. 
By Rev. W. BUYERS. 8vo., 5s., cloth. 

British India, in its Relation to the Decline of 

Hinduism and the Progress of Christianity. By the Rev. W. 
CAMPBELL. Second Thousand, 8vo., 5s., cloth. 

The Mission Pastor ; Memorials of Rev* 

Thomas Boaz, LL.D. Twenty-four Years Missionary in Calcutta. 
By his WIDOW. With Portrait, post 8vo., 2s. 6d., cloth. 



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JOHN SNO W & GO:S SELECT LIST OF BOOKS. 15 



WORKS ON MISSIONS— continued. 

EUROPEAN MISSIONS. 

Three Tears in Turkey : A Journal of a Medi- 
cal Mission to the Jews. By JOHN MASON, Medical Missionary 
in the Turkish Empire. Crown Svo., 4s., cloth. 

The Book for Every Land: Reminiscences of 

Missionary Labour and Adventure in Russia and the North of 
Europe. By J. 1 3 ATERS0N, D.D. Edited by W. L. Alexander 
D.D., Edinburgh. Post 8vo., 2s. 6d., cloth. 

MISSIONS AND MAEITIME DISCOVEEY. 
Voyages and Travels Round the World ; A 

Visit to the various Mission Stations in the South Sea Islands, 
China, India, frc. Compiled by JAMES MONTGOMERY. 
With numerous Engravings, 8vo., 2s. 6d. 

Maritime Discovery and Christian Missions con- 
sidered in their Mutual Relations. By JOHN CAMPBELL, 
D.D. With numerous Engravings, Svo., 5s., cloth. 

MISSIONARY WOEXS POE THE YOUNG. 
The Juvenile Missionary Annual for 1869. 

Full of Pictures and Stories, Sketches of Missionary Travel and 
Adventure, Missionary Enigmas, &c. Edited by Rev. R. ROBIN- 
SON. Price Is., in bright-coloured cloth. 

The Juvenile Missionary Amiual for 1868. 

Price Is., beautifully bound and illustrated. 

The Juvenile Missionary Annual for 1867. 

Price Is., beautifully bound and illustrated. 

Grandpapa s Missionary Stories to the Young. 

By an Old Missionary. With numerous beautiful Engravings, 
18mo M Is., cloth, gilt edges. 

Missionary Ships of the London Missionary 

Society. With numerous Engravings, crown Svo., 6d. 

Missionary Stories for the Young. In a neat 

packet, 6d. 

African Stories. By Rev. R. Moffat. 2d. 

London : JOHN SNOW & CO., 2, Ivy Lane, Paternoster Row. 



16 JOHN SNO W <£- GO.'S SELECT LIST OF BOOKS. 

A BOOK P0E SOTDAY-S0H00L TEAOHEES. 
The Sunday- School Question Book and Bible- 

Class Manual. A Series of Thirty-four Lessons on the Authority 
and Teachings of the Bible, with Questions and Scriptural References. 
By -Rev. W. ROAF, VVigan. Forty.sixth Thousand, Price 3d.; 
cloth 6d.; interleaved with ruled paper, 9d. 
Contents. — The Inspired Scriptures— The Books of the Bible— Miracles 
— Prophecy — Revelation — The Divine Attributes — The Law of God — 
The Fall of Man— The Person of Christ— The Prophetical Office of 
Christ — The Priestly office of Christ — The Atonement — The Resurrection 
—The Holy Spirit— The Apostles— The Early Christian Churches— The 
Christian Sabbath — The Faith of the Gospal — Repentance — Forgiveness 
Sins — Renewing of the Soul — Support of Religion — Temptations of 
Satan — Power of Prayer — -Work of Praise — The Dispensations of the 
Church— The Virtues of Christianity — The Vices of the Heart — Forma- 
tion of Habits — The Reign of Death — The Resurrection from the Dead. 
" It is condensed power ; every point is electric. " — The Homilist. 
" Successful in execution as it is novel in design."— Bund of Mope Journal. 

FOE GENEBAL CIEGULATION. 
Jesus is Mine. By a Missionary in India. 

Twenty-eighth Thousand. 32mo., price 2d. 

"<A. small book, but a very precious one. It reminds us of ' Come to Jesus.' " — 
The Quiver. 

*%* Fifty Copies, for distrilulic 

TEAOTS TOE HOME MISSIONS. 
The Home Mission Tract Series. Edited by 

Rev. FREDERICK S. WILLIAMS, and Rev. J. B. PATOtf, 

M.A. Price 8d. per dozen, or 4s. 6d. per hundred. 
I. The Lost Tract.— II. The Evangelist.— III. The Cottage Service.— 
IV. The Work of an Evangelist. — V. The Sailor and his Friend. — VI. A 
Whole Family. — VII. From Dark to Day. — VIII. The Mission on the 

Battle-field.— IX. Faith : What is it ?— X. The Wiles of the Devil 

XI. The Still Small Voice.— XII. Sowing and Reaping. 

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